An End, Once and For All
by QuietThunderM.E
Summary: The year is 2186. The Milky Way is being invaded by the Reaper Armada. Planets across the galaxy are being destroyed, along with Earth, which is ground zero. Commander Shepard and his longtime friend from Japan, Tsukune Aono work together to round up as many war assets as they can and bring them to Earth to even hope to have a chance at defeating the Reapers.
1. Prologue

An End, Once and For All

A Mass Effect 3 Crossover with Rosario + Vampire

**Hi guys, before we go on here, I'd just like to explain a few things. You guys have probably read the title and asked yourself, "What the hell?" Then you will either read on and think the story is stupid (which I hope not) or you will close the story and move onto the next one (which I hope not as well). Well, Mass Effect 3 is one of my favorite games, especially since the Mass Effect Trilogy is epic. If you read my profile, I stated that Rosario + Vampire is my favorite anime series. So, I decided to give this a try and try to tie the two together. Hopefully it works out. This story will start at the beginning of Mass Effect 3, when Shepard is in his quarters in Vancouver and James walks in to escort him to the defense committee. Then along the way, the story will unravel the way I want it to. For copyright terms, this goes to whoever created Rosario + Vampire (I forget his name) and to Bioware, who created the Mass Effect Trilogy. Please review, just don't be mean. This is my first fanfic. Also, leave any suggestions as well since it may help me if I ever get writer's block! On with the story!**

Prologue

Earth, Vancouver

Commander John Shepard (Inactive)

Alliance Headquarters

2186

Commander John Shepard was standing in his room, wearing some Alliance attire. He was quietly thinking to himself, and observing the outside world beyond the glass barrier that restricted him from feeling the natural breeze that he felt earlier when he was outside. The sun was out, shining brightly. There was a mixture of buildings with streets, flying cars, grass, trees and a large river that ran through Vancouver. He thought about the threat that Harbinger had warned him of; he knew the Reapers were coming. He kept telling that to the Citadel Council and to the Defense Committee of Earth, but nobody would listen. He thought that they were all fools to not heed his warning. But, being in his current position, what could he possibly do? He would just have to do what he didn't want to do: wait. He was off active duty, and is currently not the rank of Commander.

Ever since Shepard had come back to Earth, he had been under constant surveillance due to his ties with Cerberus. He claimed that he no longer worked WITH, NOT FOR, them. But, the Alliance wanted to make sure. Shepard walked over to the white coffee table that was place near the big window and picked up his tablet. He was surfing through all of his findings that lead to the conclusion of the Reaper threat. He sighed to himself.

A few minutes later, the doors to his quarters opened, and a man that was very well built and tall with dark skin walked in. Shepard turned around to see the man salute him.

"Commander Shepard," Lieutenant James Vega spoke.

"You know you're not supposed to call me that anymore, James," Shepard responded while he shook his head.

"Yeah, not supposed to salute you, either. Come on, the Defense Committee wants to see you." James started to walk at a fast pace out the door. Shepard put down his tablet and followed behind James.

"What? Is it something important?" Shepard entered the hallway and took in his surroundings. The floor was tiled with the color black, with glass windows that ran along the entire length of the hallway, giving a fantastic view of Vancouver. There were screens with holographic displays on the wall. Alliance personnel were striding through the hall, all with worried looks glued to their faces. "What's going on? Why is everyone in such a hurry?"

"Don't know. But, we're all preparing for whatever is coming." A man in uniform appeared in Shepard's line of sight.

"Shepard!" Admiral David Anderson called out as he turned his walking into jogging to reach Shepard.

"Anderson," Shepard said. James ran forward past the two. Shepard and Anderson started to catch up with James.

"Good to see you again. You look pretty good, maybe a little soft around the edges," Anderson joked. "How have things been since you've been off active duty?"

"Well, it's pretty okay once you get used to the hot meals and the warm beds. What's happening?"

"We're getting reports… something big is headed our way."

"… The Reapers."

"We don't know for certain."

"It's the Reapers. And we aren't ready for them, not by a long shot."

"The Committee has read your reports on all of your findings. They're aware of the Reapers and the threat they could bring, but that's all just theory."

"Is that why they branded me and my crew? Took away my ship?" The two stopped, and Anderson turned around to face Shepard.

"… You know that's not true. The shit you've done… any other would've been tried, court-martialed. This way. Through here." They entered another hallway. There was a reception desk. Behind it, there were multiple television screens.

"The Committee is expecting you sir," a female officer spoke. Shepard and Anderson met up with James.

"Good luck in there, Commander," James spoke out. Shepard and Anderson walked through the metal detectors. Shepard turned around to talk to James as Anderson continued forward and started to converse with a female officer wearing a blue outfit. She had a thin figure with stunning curves and had brown eyes with dark brown hair. She was very beautiful and well-known among others.

"Lieutenant Commander," Anderson spoke.

"Admiral," Ashley responded and saluted Anderson.

"At ease." Ashley then turned her head and saw Shepard talking to James.

"Shepard!" Shepard turned around to see who it was. He immediately recognized the woman.

"Ashley?" he spoke.

"Good to see you again." Shepard didn't answer back; instead, he walked past her, giving her a quick look before turning his head forward towards the door that lead to the Committee chambers. He and Ashley had their problems with each other. He was Ashley's idol; she practically worshipped him. When the Normandy SR-1 was destroyed and Shepard was believed to be dead, she lost hope. She had hoped that he was alive. Ever since he was forced to work with Cerberus, Ashley had questioned Shepard about which side he was on, and still does to this very day.

James walked up to Ashley.

"You know the Commander?" he asked. Ashley watched Shepard as he entered the chambers.

"I used to know him," she replied.

Shepard and Anderson entered the chambers. The room was very large, larger in height than length and width. There were screens on each side of the room, with desks where Alliance personnel would sit. There were a set of stairs that led up to the large desk at the other side of the room where the Defense Committee sat at. Behind the desk was a gigantic window, providing a scenic view of the high-rise structures of Vancouver. Shepard and Anderson stopped. The Defense Committee took their seats. The Committee was made up of six people. Four of them were male, the other two were female.

"Commander, we brought you here to inform you that we have been getting reports of something massive headed our way," one of the women spoke. She had gray hair, with blue eyes. She seemed to be in her fifties, if not older. "We have lost all contact with everything beyond the Sol Relay."

"Whatever this force is, it is incomprehensively powerful!" one of the men spoke. He was balding, and had a dark complexion. "We were hoping you could tell us what is going on." Shepard huffed to himself. What a bunch of idiots! They knew exactly what this was! They just feared that it was what he said it was.

"… You brought me here to confirm what you already know. The Reapers are here."

"Then… how do we stop them?" the woman asked.

"Stop them? This isn't about winning, this is about survival! We all have no choice but to stand together if we ever hope to have a chance of defeating the Reapers!"

"That's your plan?!" the man spoke out.

"Sir, we're getting reports from the UK! I have live video feed from London!" one of the officers spoke. The screen displayed no image; instead it was white noise. Then, a soldier that looked like he had just came from Hell, appeared onscreen. He started speaking, but the connection was extremely compromised, so he was not understandable. Then, another video came onto the screen, showing Reaper capital ships coming down and landing on the surface of London. There were firefights everywhere. It was almost like a huge fireworks display. More ships appeared, laying down ultimate destruction to the city's buildings. Soon, the video returned to being white lines covering the screen.

"My god… They're here…" the woman whispered.

"We need to move, now!" Shepard spoke with finality. Rumbles were being heard through the walls. The objects in the room began to shake. Everyone got up out of their seats and looked out the window.

"Oh my god!" A Reaper capital ship landed just a few kilometers away. The Reaper primed its weapon and fired a beam of energy, obliterating everything in its path. Soon, the beam traveled up, right into the direction of the window.

"Move! Now!" Shepard screamed as everyone scrambled to get away from the window. But, it was too late. The beam had cut through the window and caused an explosion, which caused the Committee's desk to fly through the air and topple down the stairs. Shepard barely missed the desk as it flew over him. Another explosion occurred, causing Shepard to be thrown back by the force of the explosion and hit his back against the wall. He landed on the floor, causing his vision to blur and his ears to ring. There were a few cuts on his face due to the shrapnel that spewed across the room and ricocheted off the walls. Shepard couldn't hear or see anything for a few moments, until he finally gained his composure and started to take in his surroundings.

"Shepard!" a faint voice called out to him. "Shepard!" The voice was now recognizable. "Shepard!" Anderson called out again. He found Shepard lying on the ground. He ran to him and pulled him up. "Come on, Shepard. Get up. We need to move. We need to contact the Normandy." Shepard and Anderson made their way through the rubble that now nicely decorated the chambers. "Here, take this," Anderson said as he threw Shepard a Predator pistol to him that he found on one of the dead bodies. It seemed that no one else survived the explosion. "Lieutenant Commander Williams! Do you copy? Anderson spoke through his earpiece. "… Ashley! … What's your location? … Okay, we're on our way now!" Anderson and Shepard made their way towards the window and looked out to see all the destruction that now replaced the beauty of the city. They looked at each other, knowing what the other was thinking: 'The Committee should've listened.' They then stepped down onto a steel beam that was on the exterior of the headquarters.

This was only the beginning…

** Hope you guys enjoyed the prologue, I will introduce a R + V character in chapter one. Again, please review and I possibly will be able to update in the next hour or so! **

** Quiet Thunder**


	2. Chapter 1

An End, Once and For All

** Hey guys! I hope that you enjoyed reading the prologue. I know that it pretty much copies the beginning of Mass Effect 3, but I promised to introduce an R + V character in this chapter. This story will unravel the way I want it to, so there will be some twists. However, the story will mostly follow Mass Effect 3 itself. Here we go now, on with chapter one.**

I

Earth, Vancouver

Commander Shepard (Inactive) and Admiral Anderson

Alliance Headquarters

Shepard and Anderson stood on the steel beam that was on the exterior of the headquarters. The view before them was expected, but horrible. Civilians were being evacuated in the streets below. There were fires everywhere, taking the places of where buildings should be standing. The Reapers tore through every bit of resistance like it was nothing. Human beings were simply just pests that needed to be exterminated and culled… every 50,000 years, along with other intelligent races including the Asari, Turians, Quarians, etc. Fighters flew past the headquarters in an attempt to flee from the fighters that the Reapers had. Alliance capital ships were being picked off one by one in the skies above.

_ If only the fucking Committee and the Citadel Council had listened to me… _Shepard thought to himself.

"Shepard, this way!" Anderson called out and motioned for Shepard to follow. Shepard complied and ran a pace behind Anderson. They jumped over a gap and ran up the slope of the building. "My god, they're enormous!" A Reaper had landed in the river and started a firefight with one of the Alliance capital ships. The beam had fired near the location of where Anderson and Shepard were, which caused an explosion and one of the towers above to come crashing down. Bits of steel and rock rained down on the slope of the building.

"Shit! Find some cover, Anderson! The whole fucking tower's coming down!" Shepard yelled out.

"Oh shit!" Anderson screamed as he took a dive and ended up on a balcony of one of the offices in the headquarters building. The tower impacted the ground, causing dust to spew into the air and block out the sun for a few minutes. Anderson got up to look around. There was no sign of Shepard. "Shepard!" There was no reply. "Shepard!" He got some dust in his eyes and started rubbing them. He then heard growling, forcing him to be alert. Husks appeared from the roof above him, and jumped down. Anderson started firing, getting some headshots, which instantly took the life from the iron-colored creatures. He started to run out of ammunition, so he did his very best to aim for only headshots. Eventually he ran out of ammo. "Shit!" Anderson thought he was doomed, until gunfire came upon the beasts. He turned around to see Shepard jumping off of the roof, landing on the balcony and finishing off the rest of the husks with his omni-blade.

Shepard turned around to face Anderson, who was panting slightly.

"You alright, old man?" Shepard joked.

"Yeah… Thanks to you. These old bones of mine are starting to break," Anderson replied.

"Come on. Let's go. Let's find some ammo." Shepard assisted Anderson in getting up when they heard mechanical whirring behind them. They turned around and saw one of the Reapers really close to where they were. The colossal machine primed its weapon, warning the two soldiers to move, or die. The two dived away from the office, managing to avoid the paths of the shrapnel that flew in every direction. They got up and headed into the office. Shepard managed to pry open the damaged double doors, allowing Anderson entrance into the next room… Or what was a room. Shepard's hearing picked up sounds of fast breathing. He followed the sound which lead him to an open air vent. He took a look inside, which revealed a young boy who couldn't be any older than eight. The boy was startled and started to move away from the opening of the vent and Shepard.

"Hey now…" Shepard spoke with a soft, comforting voice. "Let me get you out of there. Let me help you."

"You can't help me," the boy replied with a voice full of fear.

Shepard took a look behind him then turned his attention back to the boy. "Come on. Take my hand." Shepard raised his hand towards the boy, but he refused to take it. Instead, he backed further away.

"Shepard!" Anderson called out from the other room. Shepard turned around again, looking at the doors that led to the next room. He then looked through the vent, and noticed that the boy was gone. He sighed to himself as he stood up.

_Damn it… Be safe…_ Shepard then walked into the next room. There was a long hallway with a ledge that was covered in rubble that originated from the roof above them.

"God… Damn it, man. Thousands of people are dying, all because nobody listened to you. I thought we would have more time to prepare. Otherwise… things probably would be different right now. People's lives could be saved instead of taken," Anderson spoke as he worked to clear the rubble off of the ledge.

"You can't blame yourself for what's happening, Anderson." Shepard followed behind Anderson, being careful not to fall into the black abyss below them. "We'll find a way to end this."

"I suppose you're right… Let's keep going." Shepard took lead as they continued to slowly move along the ledge. The building started to shake, throwing off Shepard's balance and causing him to slip.

"Gotcha!" Anderson exclaimed as he stuck out his arm and pushed Shepard back onto the ledge.

"Thanks. I owe you one."

"More than one…" The two officers were able to catch a mental break as they reached another room. They noticed a few thermal clips were lying on the ground. "Grab some ammo. We'll need it." Shepard grabbed two clips, leaving the other two for Anderson. They made their way onto another roof, walking into what seemed like more rooms that were now completely destroyed.

"Lieutenant Commander Williams, come in! Come in!"

"This is….."

"What is your location, over?!"

"I'm with…. And Lieutenant Vega, we're…. hangar bay…"

"Repeat! I didn't get that last transmission!" All that Anderson got was static. "Damn it! We have to get to the Normandy fast, Shepard!" The Reaper that was near them earlier had destroyed the Alliance capital ship, causing a sound barrier to spread through the air and cause some of the building's structure to collapse. Shepard and Anderson went rolled down a slope and landed near the river.

"Damn it… That fucking hurt…"

"Come on, Shepard!" Anderson yelled as he pulled Shepard off of the ground.

Ashley, James and a man who was Asian were fighting off multiple waves of cannibals and husks in one of the hangar bays. Just behind the line of the creatures was the Normandy SR-2.

"Get the fuck off of me!" James yelled as he managed to push away the husk that strangled him and smashed the hush's head into the wall.

"Throw a damn grenade!" Ashley ordered. James primed a frag grenade and threw it at the crowd of monsters. The grenade impacted one of the cannibals, causing an instant explosion. The rest of the monsters disappeared in the blast. "Clear!" The trio made it onto the ship and headed to the control room. James sat down at the controls.

"Can you fly this ship?" the Asian man asked.

"No. Are you kidding me? I can!" a voice called out behind the trio.

"Joker? You asshole. I have some pretty good flying skills," James replied.

"Really? You practice using your dick as a control handle?"

"Fuck you!"

"Hey! I'm joking!"

"Good to see you, Joker," Ashley spoke.

"You, too. Let's get this baby flying!"

"We need to get to Shepard and Anderson," the Asian man said.

"Got it," Joker replied.

"Who are you?" James asked the man.

"Tsukune. Lieutenant Tsukune Aono. Yours?"

"James. James Vega."

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Williams." Tsukune was startled by Ashley's rank and stood at full attention, saluting her.

"At ease, Tsukune. You can call me Ash."

"Okay… um… Ash," Tsukune responded with a weak voice. He was never given the permission to call someone of higher rank by their first name before.

"So how do you know Shepard?"

"Well, he and I were longtime friends, before he left to join the N7 program. I merely followed him a few years later. I'm also a part of the N7 program."

"I see. Well, nice to meet you. Joker, are you ready to go?"

"Yep! Sorry, I had to make sure that the ship was ready to go!"

"Well get the hell on man let's go!" James yelled as he punched Joker in the arm.

"Hey! Ow, that hurt you jackass! You know I have brittle bone disease, damn it!"

"Hey, stop it James!" Ashley ordered.

"Fine… Just hurry up. Shepard's waiting." At last, the Normandy started moving, slowly making its way out of the hangar. The ship started to fly towards Shepard and Anderson's location.

"Fuck! More of them!" Anderson yelled, pointing at the group of cannibals that appeared from the debris. Pods were crashing down onto the surface, containing more cannibals in them.

"My Avenger's almost out of ammo!" Shepard informed Anderson.

"Shit… Any grenades?!"

"NO!"

"Goddamn it, Shepard!" Anderson scrambled through the debris of the crashed shuttle to search for more thermal clips.

"I'm out!" Shepard shouted. The two soldiers now hoped that the Normandy would arrive in time. The cannibals were now converging on their position. Just as when they thought they were dead, the Normandy appeared.

"Thank God!" The Normandy took care of the cannibals with ease with its high-powered cannons. The Normandy opened the shuttle bay, allowing Shepard entrance. He turned around to see Anderson standing on the steel platform.

_He's not planning on staying, is he?!_

"Go! Go Shepard! Go and get help! Bring as many as you can back here! We need every man we can get!"

"NO! We're in this fight together Anderson!"

"I need to stay behind, make sure that everything is going okay! Now, go and get help! That's an order!"

"I don't take orders from you anymore, remember?!" Anderson searched the pockets on his uniform and pulled out Shepard's dog tags. He threw them towards Shepard.

"Consider yourself reinstated… Commander!"

"… I'll be back for you!" Anderson nodded and started running away. Shepard watched as troops were evacuating civilians, taking in the sights of Vancouver. Fires blanketed large amounts of land and buildings, almost as if they were beacons. More Reapers landed, including Destroyers. Then, Shepard's eyes caught the sight of something small. The boy that he had saw in the air vent earlier. The boy was frightened beyond words. He frantically made his way onto one of the shuttles. The three shuttles departed, but the Destroyer easily destroyed all three with one shot with its signature weapon.

_NO! _Shepard could not believe what he just saw. But, he had to suck it up. He sighed. _Goddamn it… Perhaps I should've gone after him... _Shepard could bear no more. He started walking towards the elevator with James following behind him.

"Wait… What are you doing?" James asked.

"We're leaving," Shepard spoke in an angry tone.

"What?! The admiral did not just order us to leave!" Shepard turned around to face James.

"He just did!"

"Well then fuck it! I'm not leaving!"

"Do you think I want to go?! Don't you think I'd rather be fighting down there than leaving?! If you're not coming, then catch a fucking ride and leave now." Shepard started walking away. He then saw a very familiar face. The face of his longtime friend, Tsukune Aono.

"John!"

"Tsukune! You're alive. Thank God."

"Good to see you, man. Listen… You know the Yokai, right?"

"You're kidding me, right? They don't like getting involved with humans."

"Well, too bad. The Reapers are here, and they will eventually find a way to pierce their barrier that surrounds their world and kill them all. Besides, I have some friends there from high school that I think could help out."

"… Okay. Fine. Just be careful. Take one of the shuttles."

"Thank you. I won't let you down."

"I know." Tsukune nodded and boarded one of the shuttles. The hangar door opened and Tsukune flew the shuttle out. He was on his way to Japan, hoping that his friends and family were okay.

"Commander, I have an incoming transmission from Admiral Hackett," EDI spoke.

"Patch it through," Shepard ordered. The screen on one of the consoles powered on. The connection was terrible, but Shepard managed.

"Commander," Admiral Steven Hackett addressed.

"Admiral," Shepard spoke with formality.

"Recent reports say… Weapon on Mars… defeat the Reapers. … Mars Archives… Mars."

"Got it, sir."

"Good, Hackett out." The console powered off.

"Joker, plot a course for the Mars Archives."

"You got it," Joker replied through the ship's PA system. The Normandy managed to escape the Reaper fleet that surrounded Earth and flew towards the neighbor planet, Mars.

** Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I hope I'm doing pretty okay with all the details and such… I'm not the best writer ever, haha. So please, make sure to review and leave suggestions! I saw that many people have viewed my prologue chapter, but haven't left any reviews! REVIEW! Anyway, next chapter, I will start out with Tsukune's mission to get the Yokai race to help out with the Reapers. I will hopefully post chapter two this week, since I am done for tonight. Thanks for reading guys!**

** Quiet Thunder**


	3. Chapter 2

An End, Once and For All

** Hey guys! I've finally got some followers and some favorites. And a ton of reviews! That really makes me happy. So, as a gift to you fanfiction readers that are reading this right now, I present you chapter two. Please review; I still have no reviews yet. PM me if you'd like, leave suggestions, etc. Recommend this story to your friends! I will do my best to make these next chapters longer. Here we go!**

II

Earth, Okinawa, Japan

Lieutenant Tsukune Aono

Alliance Base

Tsukune was flying a shuttle to Okinawa, Japan, on a mission to get the Yokai race to help the humans with defeating the Reapers. The Yokai always thought they were so different from humans. They always thought themselves to be so superior, yet Tsukune was pretty sure a pissed off Krogan could match the strength of a vampire. He was sitting in his chair, handling the controls while he thought about when he was younger. The young man is 25 years old. He thought of his days at Yokai Academy, about all of his friends including Mizore, Kurumu, Gin, Rubi, Yukari… But there was one particular person that he never stopped thinking about when he graduated from Yokai Academy and left to go to the human world and to join the N7 program to follow his longtime friend, John Shepard. The seemingly unattainable queen of Yokai Academy, the beautiful vampire goddess, Moka Akashiya. There wasn't a night that went by where he wouldn't think of his favorite colors; pink and emerald green, as well as platinum and ruby red. Those were the colors of the girl he loved more than anything, but he felt like he abandoned her, including all of his friends from high school. He felt terrible, but he felt like he would be protecting them. Now, he would be protecting them for sure, since he is going to warn the monster society and persuade them to help the humans.

_NO! You can't go Tsukune! _

_ Goodbye, Moka-san._

Tsukune thought about the time when he said his farewell to everyone; he felt like such an ass for leaving them. But now, he would be going back, and he would hopefully be able to see them all again, as long as the Reapers don't get to Japan first. Clouds flew past the windows of the cockpit as a view of nature mixed with machine came into view. Green land, with an Alliance base. Japan. Tsukune smiled to see that the country hadn't been attacked yet. Tsukune began his descent to one of the landing pads that came into view as a voice suddenly spoke from the comms.

"This is Private Fuentes. Please identify yourself."

"Lieutenant Tsukune Aono, authentication code alpha-zulu-six-niner-five-hotel-bravo-charlie-two."

"Authentication code verified. Welcome Lieutenant."

"Thank you." Tsukune started to decline faster as he was cleared to land. The screen on the console in front of him came to life, showing Tsukune that he was to land at Pad E-26. He turned his attention to the thrusters to control his landing. He turned off any non-essential systems to conserve power. He landed on the landing pad and shut down the power. He opened the door and took in the air of his native country. "Ah… Back home again." He took a few moments to enjoy the air that he kept breathing in, but stopped after a few seconds, knowing he had a mission to do and that he couldn't dick around. He went down the stairs to get off the landing pad and went inside the base. He made his way through, ending up outside onto the outdoor viewing platform, its purpose being for officers and civilians to enjoy the beautiful view of the ocean, to see shuttles and fighters to arrive or departure. There were a lot of people flooding the docks; perhaps the order to evacuate was given. He struggled to make his way through the crowd. People left and right kept bumping into him, trying to get to a shuttle and leave Earth. He then spotted two heads in the crowd. Two heads that he had known all of his life, one of the heads belonged to the woman who had given birth to the young man. His parents. Koji and Kasumi Aono.

"Oh my god, mom! Dad!" Tsukune called out. It was difficult to yell over the crowd since there was so much panic going on. Tsukune doubled his efforts to reach his parents. Soon, he was close enough for them to hear him for sure. "Mom! Dad!" he called out again. Then, the married couple turned their heads to see who was calling them. They recognized that voice, instantly. They knew that voice and could easily identify it. It was their son. Tsukune waved his arms, and finally caught their attention. Their faces soon had waterfalls of tears covering their cheeks.

"Oh my god, Tsukune!" Kasumi cried out. "Look Koji, it's our boy!"

"Tsukune my son, it's you!" Koji screamed in pure joy. The three finally reunited in the enormous crowd, ignoring those who bumped into them from time to time.

"Mom, dad! It's so good to see you again! But, you need to go now! You need to leave Earth! Head to the Citadel! Meet John there!"

"But… But, Tsukune!" Kasumi cried.

"Mom, you have to go! It's too dangerous to stay here!"

"What are you doing, son? Where are you going?!" Koji asked.

"To get help! But, you guys need to go, now! You can't stay here!" A few seconds later, the expected happened. The sky was filled was black objects that seemed to be massive in size. Everyone stopped in their tracks to observe the sky. Then, everyone started to run, knocking some people down, but no one cared, they needed to escape with their lives. They saw what was coming down. The Reapers were finally here. "Go! Go mom! Go dad! Fucking go!" Tsukune yelled as he forcibly shoved the two adults into the crowd. Tsukune kept switching his view from the sky to his parents over and over again.

_Please be safe… _Tsukune then made his way towards a tunnel. He was stopped when a man in a uniform and a hat stepped in front of him. He pulled out a lighter and a cigar. He lit the cigar and started to smoke. His eyes started glowing.

"Hehehehe… I knew you'd be back, kid." the man spoke in a low, creepy voice.

"B-b-b… Mr. Bus Driver!" Tsukune exclaimed, shocked.

"Hehehehe… Good to see you again, kid. I'm assuming you're going to need a ride to the Yokai world?"

"Uh… yeah… I guess." The Bus Driver snapped his fingers and a yellow bus drove up.

"Get on. I'll take ya through the tunnel. I'll take you to see Lord Issa Shuzen." Tsukune felt a shiver go down his spine. He had confronted the vampire dark lord before; he was extremely powerful and was also the father of the girl he loved.

"Um… Thanks." The Bus Driver sat down and turned to Tsukune and smirked at him. Tsukune took his seat on the bus, sitting two seats behind the Bus Driver. The bus started moving and went through the tunnel. Multiple colors of light appeared all around the bus, waving and swirling. Tsukune looked at the Bus Driver. He calmed himself down; he thought that he shouldn't be afraid of him, after all, he did warn him when he knew trouble was coming, offered to help him out with some things, etc. "So, even though we have flying cars and stuff, you still have this piece of shit bus?" Tsukune joked. "It's like a Twinkie with mold on it."

The bus driver didn't laugh. Tsukune decided to just shut up. It was best for him at the moment. A few minutes passed, until a bright white light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Everything turned to white, but soon faded away as a path with dead trees on both sides appeared. Just in the distance, a castle was standing tall and proud, reminding Tsukune of Issa. The bus continued moving until it reached the courtyard in front of the main doors and stopped. Tsukune stood up and walked to the front of the bus.

"Thanks again," Tsukune said.

"No problem, kid. I'll wait for you here. Good luck in there." Tsukune got off of the bus and took at the doors. He sighed to himself and took in a deep breathe. He walked up the stairs that lead to the doors and raised his fist to knock on the door. He knocked three times; each knock sounding like a mallet hitting a bass drum. A few seconds later, the doors opened, and revealed a beautiful vampire woman with a tanned complexion, flowy blonde hair and ruby red eyes with slits as pupils. She wore a white dress with white gloves and a tiara along with white heels. She gained a look of shock on her face.

The vampire woman stepped out to see who it was that knocked. Her face transformed into a shocked look as he observed the well-built figure that stood before him. She eyed him up and down, carefully observing the figure. It wasn't… Tsukune… Was it?"

"Tsu… Tsukune?" the vampire softly spoke.

"Hehe… yep, it's me, Kahlua. Good to see you again. You look really beautiful in that dress," Tsukune complimented as he put on his signature smile that could make anyone melt.

"Tsu… TSUKUNE!" Kahlua yelled in pure joy as she jumped onto Tsukune, wrapping her legs around his waist. Tsukune was a strong man, and wasn't knocked down when Kahlua jumped onto him. Kahlua hugged him ever so tightly, placing her head on his shoulder. She squealed in pure excitement, then pulled he head back. "Oh my god, Tsukune, it's been so long!"

"Yeah… it has!"

"Have you come back for me? Oh, Tsukune, I'm very flattered! We still need to have sex, you know!"

"Whoa, what the hell?! Who said that I was going to have sex with you?! That would be weird!"

"I did! And it wouldn't be weird because I know you love me just as much as I love you!"

"Um… Okay… Time to get off of me, Kahlua." Tsukune took Kahlua's soft, tanned legs off of his waist, helping her to stand on the ground. "I need to see your father. It's very important."

"Okie dokie! This way!" Kahlua turned around and skipped into the castle foyer as Tsukune chuckled to himself, observing Kahlua from afar. She was so ditsy. Tsukune followed Kahlua a few paces behind her.

Issa was sitting in his throne room, looking at his tablet and scrolling through the reports of the Reaper invasion coming in. He was laughing to himself, seeing how weak the humans were, including the other races. The Krogan could actually match a vampire's strength, but the other races, forget it. He was brought from his attention to the small screen when the doors to the throne room were opened to reveal two figures. One figure he instantly realized, being one of his daughters, but the other he didn't recognize at first until he came closer. It was the man who had stolen her prized daughter Moka's heart on her first day at Yokai Academy. Tsukune Aono. What was he doing here?

"Tsukune Aono," Issa spoke with his usual prideful tone.

"Issa," Tsukune spoke with no emotion in his tone of voice.

"What makes you think you can refer to me by my first name? Such an action calls for a punishment, young man. Allow me to teach you a lesson." Issa then flashed his red eyes. Tsukune stood in his place, feeling the effect of Issa's power, but it had no effect on him. Issa's eyes widened in shock. "What?! Impossible! How are you still standing?!"

"That doesn't matter anymore. Let's get to what's important. More important than me calling you by your fucking name."

"Seems like you have grown a set since the last time we were aquainted."

"Listen, I'm not here to waste any fucking time with you, you aristocratic piece of shit, cocksucking motherfucker! I'm here because the Reapers are here and we need your help."

"You know my answer Mr. Aono. It's no. We simply do not take matters into human affairs. You know that very well, young man."

"Yeah, and I get that jackass, but this time, the Reapers threaten us all! You think you're fucking safe being in this 'secret' barrier?! You're not!"

"What happens to the humans and the other races do not matter to us monsters."

"You know goddamn well that the fucking Reapers will destroy us all! And eventually, they will find out about the Yokai world and will eventually find a way to pierce through that fucking barrier! You have to help us! You need to put aside your differences for once, and stop being arrogant and prideful dumbasses and help us out!"

"I will state again that-" Issa was stopped mid-sentence when he felt like something was choking him. An unseen force was pushing him against the back of his throne. He struggled to free himself from this force.

Tsukune's eyes were glowing a mixture of red, representing the power of his vampire blood in his system, and blue, representing the power of his biotic abilities from when he attended the John Grissom Academy. It was a school for anyone to be trained in the art of biotics. Tsukune was one of the top graduates. Tsukune had a powerful hold on Issa, completely surprising the Dark Lord and Kahlua.

"No, Tsukune! Stop!" Kahlua yelled as she grabbed Tsukune's left arm, but he ignored her and pushed her away.

"And I will state once again, motherfucker, that I am not here to waste my time with this bullshit! You will help us out, or so God help me, I will fucking shove my fucking dick, so far down your fucking throat, that my seminal fluids will be pouring out of your fucking ass." Issa and Kahlua were shocked with this new side of Tsukune. They had never seen this side of him before. Issa assumed he got it from the military. Tsukune was still the caring person that he was all those years ago; he just simply gained a new personality that he would never show but in circumstances like this. Tsukune was beyond angry. He was laughing in his mind as he was easily able to keep Issa in his place. Issa and Kahlua felt the raw power coming from Tsukune, and it was almost unbearable.

"OKAY! OKAY! STOP! STOP!" Issa forcibly spoke, choking and out of oxygen. Tsukune released his grip on the Dark Lord and the colors in his eyes disappeared. Kahlua was relieved when Tsukune released his control over her father. "I'll help you out… but you must know, that you will also have to speak to Tohou Fuhai and Tenmei Mikogami, right?"

"Then call them here." Kahlua got up and ran to Issa, who was panting heavily and slumped in his throne.

"Daddy, are you okay?" Kahlua asked, holding his hands.

"I'm fine… Kahlua." Tsukune just observed the Dark Lord and his daughter in silence as he compiled his thoughts together. If he could convince the other two Dark Lords to help him, then his mission to get the Yokai race to help the humans would be complete. Tsukune stood in silence for a few minutes until a voice spoke out from behind him. Even if it have been a very long time, he would never forget that voice… that angelic voice that belonged to the most important person of his life. His eyes widened at the sound of his name being said by that beautiful voice.

"Tsukune?" the voice called out. Tsukune turned his head around very slowly, followed by his body, until his entire figure faced the figure that was standing in the shadows. The figure then slowly started to walk out of the darkness, revealing her entire body for the light of the throne room to shine on. Tsukune's mouth literally dropped like a cartoon character, as he instantly recognized who the beautiful vampire woman was.

"M… Moka-san?"

** And there you have it, chapter two. Hope you enjoyed it! I made it slightly longer than the prologue and the first chapter. Remember to follow, add as a favorite, and REVIEW! Thanks so much again for reading this, and hope you all live long and prosper! (Yes, I'm quoting Spock.) The next chapter will still focus on Tsukune, and finally introduce Moka, along with a few other characters. I will do my best to make the next chapter longer. I enjoy writing for you guys, and I hope you enjoy reading this. GO MASS EFFECT AND R + V!**

** Quiet Thunder**


	4. Chapter 3

An End, Once and For All

**Hey guys! I AM BACK! Sorry I haven't updated in a few days, to the people who liked and followed this story are probably eager for the next chapter. I have been busy with dancing and whatnot, I just got done with a gig to help raise money for a good cause. I usually do my stories at night, so I kind of rush the story a little bit, and that is bad because then you guys probably don't like it. Shout out to the ONE PERSON who actually gave a review, the only okay thing was that he/she just put "interesting." But you know what; at least he/she took the time to post a review. PLEASE REVIEW! I've said this many times before. Anyway, enough of me bitching at you guys, let's get on with chapter three!**

III

Earth, Yokai World

Lieutenant Tsukune Aono

Castle Shuzen

There she was. The girl… woman he had been longing to gaze at. To feel her smooth skin come into contact with his, to see how her curves could make any being, normal or supernatural, jealous, to see how wonderfully the colors of bubble gum pink, emerald green, platinum silver and ruby complement each other with extravagant beauty. She was the image of perfection. Her angelic and low, smooth tones of voices, one voice belonging to the outer appearance and the other belonging to the reality that resided deep within the illusion. When she called his name, he turned around and he nearly collapsed. The one girl that he loved with all of his heart, enough to constantly risk his life for her and to protect her. Moka Akashiya, the beautiful vampire goddess.

Moka walked into the throne room due to all the commotion she had picked up with her acute sense of hearing. She saw a man standing in front of her father, somehow holding him in his place on his throne. She was about to stop the assailant, but she took one good look at the backside of the man's body. She observed the feet. Next, the legs. Then, the torso. Finally, she saw the head, and her heart literally died. She knew that she had seen that man before. She knew who it was; even if he was gone for even the longest of times, she would still be able to recognize the strong, handsome, brave and caring human that she and her other self (although the Inner Moka wouldn't admit it due to her vampire pride) fell in love with on her very first day of high school. She knew that calling out his name, she wouldn't be wrong.

"Tsukune?" Moka called out. The man turned around after releasing control on her father.

"M…Moka-san?" the man replied. Hearing her name being call made her body have an adrenaline rush. She loved hearing that sweet, innocent voice call her name. When he turned around, she had guessed correctly who it was.

"OH, TSUKUNE!" Moka cried out as she ran towards Tsukune.

Hearing his name being by his beloved sent him over the moon, especially since the fairy tale couple had been separated in their own worlds for so long. As Moka ran towards him, he began doing the same action. They embraced each other for the longest time. Tsukune enjoyed the scent of her hair, as well as Moka enjoying the scent of Tsukune's blood. However, it was not because of his blood that Moka loved him so much; it was because he was the first person, even a boy, to treat her with respect and to not see her as someone to take advantage of. Even though her inner personality was harsh and cold-hearted to Tsukune, he still returned her mean comments with kindness, which made her inner self fall for him, but she never admitted it. Both Mokas missed Tsukune terribly when he had left for the human world to join the Alliance. After he left, Moka's inner self had realized what she lost. No one was ever there for her like Tsukune was, although she would get help from her friends Kurumu, Mizore, Gin, Rubi and Yukari, but nothing compared to what Tsukune would do for her. He treated her like a princess. Tsukune was, and still is the only person who can pull off her rosary. No one was there to protect her. She would make occasional trips to the human world by herself, and would be harassed by many men that saw her as being "easy." Inner Moka missed the company of her human companion. He was such a kind soul. But now, he is here once again, embracing her tightly. Both Moka's were enjoying the feel of Tsukune's well-built body. The two moved their heads back from each other's shoulders and looked into each other's eyes, getting lost in the void of the pupils.

"Oh, Tsukune!"

"Moka-san!"

"Tsukune…"

"Moka-san…"

"…Tsukune…"

"…Moka-san…" The couple kept saying each other's names for a little while now, until Kahlua got up and pulled away Tsukune from Moka.

"Hey! I want some loving, too!" Now that my man is back, he can finally be mine!" Kahlua shouted.

_Oh, hell no… Here we go again. No wonder why Kahlua wants to have sex with me. Should've remembered. Great… _Tsukune thought as the two vampire sisters bickered on about who Tsukune belonged to.

"He is mine, and mine alone! So back off!" Moka yelled back, making Kahlua hit Moka in the stomach sending her flying into the wall, and running off with Tsukune.

"Whoa! Kahlua, where are we going?!" Tsukune frantically yelled as he was being pulled by Kahlua. She didn't answer as she kept running, pulling him along. Eventually, they stopped in front of a wooden door. Kahlua opened the door and led Tsukune into what seemed like her bedroom. She then closed the door and locked it so nobody could get in. She then turned around to face Tsukune, who was confused at what was going on.

"Um… What are we doing in your bedroom, Kahlua?" Tsukune asked, his voice shaking a little.

"I want to have a little bit of playtime with you, Tsukune…" Kahlua spoke with lust in her voice.

_What? _"Uh… What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, Tsukune…" Kahlua started to walk towards the man slowly and seductively, swaying her hips and undoing her dress along the way. When Tsukune noticed what she was doing, he started having a minor nosebleed, which soon turned into a waterfall of blood pouring from his nostrils.

"What are you doing, Kahlua?!" Tsukune yelled as he backed away holding his nose and desperately trying to escape the situation.

"I've liked you for a very long time, Tsukune… I want you to be with me… I want you to take me…" Great. This was just like the old days. This sucked. His problems from the past that he thought he had escaped from were beginning to resurface once again. He was back, and he remembered Kahlua being in love with him. Tsukune had been to the castle to face Issa in order to get another rosary for Moka, but several months later, Issa invited him and Moka over for dinner and in order to get to know the human better to be sure that he would be fit to marry Moka. Moka and Tsukune had never dated, but they always had feelings for each other. She introduced Tsukune to Kahlua and Akhua who found him attractive, but when he told Moka's sisters that he was a human, they both pushed him away. Vampires, monsters even, still do not accept humans to this very day. Humans and Yokai may know of each other's existence, but both races do not get involved in each other's affairs. But, when the sisters observed how Tsukune treated their younger sister, their opinions of humans slowly started to change. When they thought that humans were a terrible species and only brought destruction, here is a human, treating their younger sister like a goddess. He truly cared for her and did not mean her harm. What was even more shocking was when he pulled off her rosary from her black choker. Nobody in her family could pull it off and they were vampires, but a human who is by far physically weaker than a vampire (except now Tsukune's physical strength has rapidly increased due to the biotic powers and Moka's blood) is able to pull it off… because he truly does not mean any harm to Moka. Kahlua and Akhua slowly started to accept Tsukune, to the point where they both fell in love with him. Soon, Moka, Kahlua and Akhua fought over Tsukune. Kokoa had developed feelings for Tsukune ever since they had got trapped in that cave at the bottom of the gorge when they went on that skiing trip, and they grew stronger every day. But, she would never admit her liking for the man.

So now, here's one of Moka's older sisters, trying to have sex with him, but he only loved Moka. He didn't want to break Kahlua's heart, but he hoped they could be really good friends. He walked towards Kahlua and placed his hands on her shoulders which made her stop walking.

"Kahlua… Listen… I really like you a lot as well, but not in the way that you want me to. I'm sorry. It hurts for me to say this, but I love your sister Moka, I always have. But… I hope that we can be really good friends." Tsukune finished speaking with a smile that made Kahlua start shedding tears and crying. Tsukune felt bad and pulled her in for a tight hug. At this point, Kahlua was already out of her dress and was in only her bra and panties which aroused him very much, but he managed to contain his urges. Kahlua was extremely beautiful and really cheerful. He loved those two qualities about her. But, his heart was already stolen. Kahlua continued to sob, tears staining Tsukune's uniform. "Kahlua… I admire everything about you… your looks, your personality and umm… Your body, but I can't do this. I'm sorry. But… I ask that we can be the best possible friends?"

Kahlua looked up into the man's eyes. She loved those chocolate eyes; they always made her melt. Though it hurt her heart that he didn't love her, it made her happy that he thought of those things about her and still wanted to be her friend. So, she accepted. Perhaps next time she could win his heart.

"Okay… Tsukune…" Kahlua began, sniffling and wiping tears away from face. "I hope we can be friends, too. I'm sorry… about making all these advances towards you."

Tsukune's forgiving heart took control of his words as he spoke. "It's okay, Kahlua. Don't worry. My opinion of you hasn't changed, and never will." Tsukune smiled, which made Kahlua hug him even tighter. She was glad that Tsukune still liked her, even though she had caused a lot of trouble back then, and now.

"Thank you, Tsukune…" Kahlua whispered into his ear before she put her dress back on and left the room with a big smile on her face. Tsukune sighed and smiled, relieved that she had left and that she accepted that he loved Moka. Tsukune left the room and started to make his way through the hallways. He was stopped in his tracks when he saw Moka.

"Moka-san!" Moka turned around and saw the man she loved walking towards her.

"Tsukune! Where were you?"

"I… I just left Kahlua's room. I had a talk with her. Nothing to worry about."

"If you say so… Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I was afraid that Kahlua would hurt you…"

"I'm fine, Moka. Really."

"Okay, Tsukune." Moka smiled and nodded her head. "Would you like to take a walk with me? Perhaps we can catch up on what's been happening lately!" Tsukune was hoping that he could just ask the Dark Lords for help to fight against the Reapers and just leave, but now… Moka wanted to talk with him. Though this would be taking him away from his mission, he always made the time for Moka. So, he nodded in approval and walked with the pink-haired vampire.

The two young adults had walked to the exterior of the castle, leading to a courtyard on the third floor that overlooked the path to the castle. They walked to the stone railing and observed the sunset as it slowly started to disappear behind the mountains. Moka and Tsukune stood there in silence for a few minutes, until Moka broke the comfortable silence between them with a question on his well-being.

"So… how have things been for you Tsukune?" Tsukune turned to look at Moka, and then turned his head back towards the sunset.

"Pretty good. When I left Japan, I traveled to North America to join the Alliance. It's been good for me. Boot camp was a piece of cake thanks to your other self. All of that training she gave me was hell, but it really helped me out with my time in the Alliance. I'm the rank of Lieutenant. What about you?"

"Nothing much really. I've been working in the human world as a martial arts sensei, making occasional trips back here to the castle. I just came from the human world today."

"That sounds great, Moka! I know you would make a good teacher," Tsukune spoke with a smile, which made Moka blush. "So, how are the others? Gin, Kurumu, Kokoa…"

"Well, Kokoa is her usual self. Same with Yukari. Ruby still works for the headmaster at Yokai Academy, Mizore returned to her village, so I haven't heard much from her. Gin and Kurumu are together." That last sentence made Tsukune raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"Whoa, Gin and Kurumu, huh?"

"Yeah, I never thought they'd be a couple."

"Well… I'm glad Kurumu found the love that she deserves. Gin may be perverted, but he is a good man at heart. He was like a brother to me."

"Yes… he is…" Moka trailed off, making Tsukune worry.

"Something wrong, Moka?"

"… So… these Reapers… What are they?"

"They're a machine race of unknown origin. Every 50,000 years they come back to the galaxy and lay wasted to every advanced civilization and harvest every species, so that a new cycle may begin. I barely escaped Vancouver with my life… And now they're here in Japan… and pretty soon, they're going to find a way in here too if you're father keeps acting like the dumbass that he is and not help out!" Tsukune started to get angry and clench his fists, which scared Moka a little bit. When Tsukune realized this, he calmed himself down and sighed. "Sorry, Moka. I didn't mean to scare you. But I need everyone that I can get to help the galaxy out. Perhaps this war can unite the humans and Yokai. I have always wanted that to happen. But, it will definitely take a lot of work to do so."

"It's okay Tsukune… I'm sorry that my father can be so stupid sometimes… From the day I met you, I wanted humans and Yokai to unite as well… You made me see that there are some humans that are good… just like you."

"Ah… I don't know if I'm good or not… The military kind of changed me… I've done things that I regret doing, and I kill. Don't know if my parents should be proud of me or not. I don't know if I have accomplished anything. But, what drives me to keep going is my good friend, John Shepard. He is the Alliance's idol, and I follow his example every day. And what also drives me is all of the friends I made at Yokai Academy, your sisters and most of all… you." Moka started to form tears in her eyes, trying to hold them in, but ultimately failed. "I regret leaving all of you guys. I missed all of you so damn much. But now, I'm back, and I'm going to make things right."

"Oh… Tsukune…" Moka started to cry and ran into the safety of Tsukune's arms. They both embraced each other tightly, enjoying each other's warmth under the vibrant colors of the bright sunset. They stood their embracing each other for what seemed like forever, until Tsukune felt a small object making contact with his chest every second. He looked down to see what it was. Moka's rosary was shaking around like crazy; the eye in the stone glowing a bright ruby red. "Oh… It looks like… My other self wants to speak with you…" Moka started to develop a more defined red on her face. "Just… Please be careful, okay? Don't let her hurt you."

"It's alright, I'll be fine, Moka. I'll be safe." Tsukune smiled to reassure her. She nodded and grasped Tsukune's right hand with her left. She raised it and placed it on her rosary, and forced the silver cross off the chain. The usual happened; a bright light developed, enveloping the two adults, and Moka's breasts, hips and bottom increased in size. Her jade eyes turned blood red and her hair changed into a flawless color of platinum. The Inner Moka had her eyes closed. The transformation finished, and she stood there. Tsukune was a little bit afraid of this Moka, since she got a little mad last time they saw each other when he was leaving to join the Alliance and kicked him hard in the stomach. He wanted to make sure that John was alright, but did it at the expense of leaving his friends behind. But now, he would save them all. Tsukune shivered a little bit at the transformation.

Moka opened her eyelids to reveal her blood red eyes, and she smirked devilishly at the boy… man that stood before her.

"Long time, no see… Tsukune Aono. You silly boy… You may be a man, but you will always be that silly boy I knew all those years ago before you left us." Tsukune was embarrassed by her comment and started forming a red tint on his face.

"Yeah… Long time… no see… Moka," Tsukune spoke, his voice shaking a little bit which amused the vampire.

"You really should stop getting embarrassed, Tsukune. It makes you look like your shy. Why do you tense up around me? Am I too much for you to handle?" Moka spoke seductively with her deep, smooth and soft voice. She observed Tsukune's appearance. His uniform was black, hugging his torso and his legs tightly, which showed off his well-built and defined body, even with all the clothing on him. She was turned on by his haircut and the two scars on his face. His hair was very short, but, not a jarhead cut. Even though his signature look included his hair being long, this haircut matched his manly appearance.

"Umm… No, it's just… I'm really glad to see you, Moka!" She knew that he was nervous around her still. But, she decided to ignore that, as her hunger for his blood started to surface.

"If you don't mind, Tsukune… I didn't get a chance to do this last time. Or ever," Moka spoke as she walked towards Tsukune seductively, swaying her hips and smirking devilishly at the man, who was blushing furiously. She pulled Tsukune close to her body and making contact with his. She then buried his fangs into his neck and started to drink blood from him. Tsukune stood there, not enjoying the pain, but not minding the tingling feeling that it brought.

_Man… I miss this feeling so much… _Tsukune thought as he decided to just give in.

_Tsukune… your blood… is so… delicious… mmmm… _Moka thought as she continued to draw blood from Tsukune's body. A voice clearing it's throat is what put an end to the two adult's moment, and made them face the source of the voice. Moka and Tsukune turned to face Issa.

"Yes, father?"

"If I may, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Issa spoke sarcastically. "Tsukune, Tohou and Tenmei have arrived. They would like to speak with you in the throne room. Come now, if you value your life." Issa then turned around to walk to the door that led inside the castle. Tsukune just laughed to himself and looked to Moka and nodded. The two adults made exited the courtyard and made their way to the throne room.

Moka and Tsukune arrived at the throne room to see Kahlua, Issa, Tenmei and Tohou standing right in front of the stairs that led up to the throne.

"Hmm… Good to see that you're alive and well, young man," Tenmei spoke with his deep and creepy voice. "Shall we begin?"

"Yes," Tsukune spoke quickly.

** Hopefully you guys like this chapter. REVIEW! PLEASE! POR FAVOR! Haha. I realize that each chapter increases in size, so that's good. I will do my best to make the next chapter longer. Well, follow, fav and review. Thanks guys!**

** Quiet Thunder**


	5. Chapter 4

**An End, Once and For All**

** Hey guys! Haven't gotten any new reviews yet, but what's nice is that there have been a lot of views of this story. The number of favorites and follows keep going up, so I'm glad. I still am going to keep saying… REVIEW! Haha, I'm going to keep saying it until I get some more. Well anyway, I'm going to shut up now, hope you enjoy this chapter. **

IV

Earth, Yokai World

Lieutenant Tsukune Aono

Castle Shuzen

The three Dark Lords all stood in line facing the young man Tsukune Aono. Moka stood in a formal posture behind Tsukune. Kahlua walked over to join the two.

"Alright. Let's begin," Tenmei spoke. "So… What is the issue, Mr. Aono?"

"Hmph. Don't bullshit me, Exorcist," Tsukune bluntly replied. "You're telling me that you're one of the most powerful of the Yokai race and you don't have a fucking clue of what's going on right now?"

"I'd watch your tone, young man."

"I don't give a fuck about my tone. What I do give a fuck about though, is saving the lives of the people on this Earth, and that includes you dumbasses, so consider this a favor when I warn you that you need to leave this world before the Reapers find out about this place and eventually make their way past the barrier and destroy you all."

"And where would we go?" Tohou asked.

"I don't know. The Citadel, I guess. Perhaps the Citadel Council will offer you three seats in the council. It'd be beneficial to your race and to all of the races that exist in the Milky Way." Tsukune stood there as he heard the three Dark Lords discuss silently among themselves of their decision. God, they couldn't hurry the fuck up.

"Well… What would you do for us in return?"

"The best I can do is to make sure you guys can get some political power in this galaxy."

"That doesn't sound too promising, Tsukune," Issa spoke.

"Is this fucking promising for you three dumbasses?" Tsukune activated his biotic powers, which in turn made the power of Moka's blood resurface, allowing the two types of powers to combine. His energy could be felt throughout the room, which surprised the Dark Lords. However, they just stood their ground. This man couldn't possibly be able to hurt them, especially if they're all fighting against this human. "Still not convinced? Okay." Tsukune created a shockwave with made the Lords lose their balance. Tsukune then hit the ground twice which depleted his barrier, but easily regained it back by doing a biotic charge towards the Dark Lords. Tenmei grunted in pain as he was forcibly shoved back, along with Tohou who just flew back into the wall behind the throne. Issa was lifted into the air and then thrown to the ceiling, causing him to be embedded into the stone. This new side of Tsukune, along with his powers shocked everyone in the room. "Convinced yet?" There was no reply. Tsukune then smirked and summoned another power.

Tenmei was in a great deal of pain. This human had managed to defeat them all! He had surely grown increasingly powerful since the last time he had seen Tsukune. When Tsukune was about to summon another power, he raised his hand in surrender.

"Tsukune! Stop! Okay!" Tenmei yelled, trying to bear the unbearable pain that he was feeling all throughout his body.

"Ah. Not so powerful now, huh?" Tsukune said as he was laughing.

"You'll… Get your help on fighting the Reapers. The Yokai will evacuate Earth immediately and head for the Citadel. But I swear Mr. Aono, that if we win this war and we don't get what you just promised us, we will make sure that you will die," Issa managed to speak as he fell down from the ceiling and landed softly onto the ground.

"Is that so? Well, you will get what I promised. You have my word. Let's go, Moka. You can come with me too, Kahlua. I need start heading for the Citadel. But, be ready. I fear that the human world is already in ruins. It will most likely be difficult to reach the shuttle on the landing docks." Moka and Kahlua nodded as they headed towards the main doors of the castle.

"Father will make sure to get Kokoa and Akhua out. He can find them easily," Kahlua spoke.

"I hope our friends get out, too…" Tsukune spoke with worry in his voice. He could go looking for them now, but he needed to follow John's orders, even if he was a good friend of his. He saw the Bus Driver leaning against the bus while smoking a cigar.

"Need a lift back, kid?" the Bus Driver asked.

"Yeah. Listen… after you drop us off, get out of here. Head for-" Tsukune spoke but was cut off.

"The Citadel. I know. I heard. I'll be there, kid. Don't you worry about me. Get on the bus." Tsukune nodded and got onto the bus, taking a seat a few seats behind the bus driver. Moka sat next to Tsukune which made Kahlua whine, but she just sat in the seat next to the two lovers. The Bus Driver started driving through the woods, taking the path that would lead the bus to the tunnel. The bus traveled through the tunnel for what seemed like forever. "You guys might want to brace yourselves. This is gonna be one hell of a ride!" The bus exited the tunnel, which provided the trio in the back a full view of Reaper capital ships standing tall above them laying destruction to the Alliance base. Explosions occurred all around the bus, causing smoke to envelop the vehicle. After a few seconds, the bus escaped the smoke, only to run into a group of Cannibals. Tsukune stood up and walked to the front of the bus.

"Open the door," Tsukune ordered. The Bus Driver nodded and opened the door. Tsukune took out his Avenger and loaded it. He aimed at the large group of Cannibals and began to fire. Tsukune was an excellent marksman, which helped him to take down the groups of Cannibals with ease.

"You're a good shot, kid."

"Thanks. Can you get us close to the docks?"

"Yeah. But, you'll be on your own the rest of the way."

"It's okay. I'll take care of Moka and Kahlua, you just make sure you get your ass out of here!"

"Gotcha kid." The bus pulled up to a pile of dead bodies. Tsukune assumed they would be taken to be used as subjects for Husks, Cannibals or Marauders. Moka and Kahlua rushed to the front and stood behind Tsukune. "Ready? One, two, three… GO!" The trio darted out of the bus and made their way through the wasteland of debris and bodies. The Reapers had spotted the three, and started priming their weapons.

"Shit! Hurry up guys!" Tsukune yelled as he picked up his pace. Moka and Kahlua did the same, trying their best to not fall behind. Tsukune managed to reach the entrance of the base and held the doors open long enough for the two vampires to enter. "Get to the shuttle, it's the only one out there. Get is started, I'll be right behind you!" Moka and Kahlua looked at Tsukune, begging for him to go with them. "Kahlua, watch over Moka. Be careful, ok? Now go! Go goddamn it, go!" Tsukune shoved Moka back which motivated the vampires to run to the shuttle. Tsukune stood at the entrance, waiting for the Husks to run towards him. "Come and get me, motherfuckers." Tsukune started firing at the Husks, causing them to pick up their pace. A few seconds later, behind the Husks came the Cannibals, then the Marauders. Tsukune knew he would be fucked now, since he was starting to run out of ammo. He turned around and rushed through the hallways of the base to get to the shuttle.

Moka and Kahlua made it to the shuttle. They entered the shuttle and powered on the controls and the engines.

"We can't leave Tsukune back there!" Kahlua yelled. "We need to go back for him!"

"He'll make it, Kahlua. Trust me," Moka spoke. Her voice was a little shaky, because she was worried for Tsukune. The two vampires sat in the chairs at the controls in silence, patiently waiting. Each second was torture for the both of them. They observed the window to the control room of the docks. Soon enough, they saw a figure of what had to be Tsukune, running through the control room. Their hopes had brightened up. They saw Tsukune run towards the shuttle. He entered and ran to the controls.

"Thanks… For waiting guys," Tsukune spoke, recovering from his sprint through the base. "Let's get out of here, shall we?" Both girls nodded and smiled. Tsukune smiled back and activated the thrusters. The shuttle began to rise from the dock and fly into space. However, it wasn't an easy task, as there was a Hades Cannon and several Reaper capital ships firing at the shuttle. Tsukune was lucky to make it out alive. But, one more obstacle stood between the shuttle and the Citadel. The Reaper fleet. Great. "Shit. Of course. Who said this would be easy right?" Tsukune sighed and started to fly towards the fleet. This action alerted the nearby Reaper Destroyer ships and caused them to fly towards the shuttle.

"Uh… Tsukune?" Moka spoke.

"Yeah… I see them. Shit…" Tsukune prayed that he would make it through the fleet. He had to worry about the well-beings of the two vampire sisters standing behind him. "Go sit down. This is gonna be hell." Moka nodded and grabbed Kahlua to pull her to the back of the shuttle. They took their seats and buckled up. Tsukune managed to pass the first Destroyer with ease since it was still in the process of priming its weapon. However, when he approached the second Destroyer, the weapon was ready to fire. "Shit!" The weapon fired at the shuttle. Tsukune barely managed to avoid the destructive power and death that the Reaper Destroyers, or the Reapers in general, bring. The Reaper ground forces put up a good fight but were defeatable, but Reaper ships were such a bitch. Tsukune had fought a Reaper before and destroyed it. But the shuttle had no effective weapons against the Reaper ships, even if the weak point was exposed. Tsukune had one more Reaper to pass, which was also ready to fire its weapon. Tsukune had quick reflexes which in turn made him move the shuttle out of the beam's path. Tsukune traveled as fast as he could towards the Mass Relay at the end of the Local Cluster, but with the three Reaper Destroyers on his tail, it would be almost impossible.

Mars

Commander John Shepard (Reinstated)

Mars Archives Base

"Alright, we're almost there. Gear up," Shepard ordered Ashley and James. They both nodded and put on their helmets. James rechecked his gun to make sure it was fully loaded. He attached a module to his Avenger to turn the bullets into drill rounds which would pierce through armor and walls better.

"Hey, where did you get those drill rounds?" Ashley asked. "I want some."

"I don't have anymore. But you can have my cryo rounds instead." James took out a module for cryo rounds and handed it to Ashley, who accepted it with gratitude.

"Thanks." Ashley attached the cryo rounds module to her Avenger and powered it on. A holographic symbol appeared on the right side of the rifle indicating that the rounds were now equipped to freeze a target overtime. Shepard attached his helmet to his suit. Shepard had upgraded his armor, courtesy of Rosenkov Materials. James had put in an order for a Wraith shotgun, but it hadn't come in yet.

"Damn it, Rosenkov gets your stuff sent to you quickly, but my shotgun takes forever? What assholes!" James complained.

"Hey, calm down now. I think it's just they think the Commander is more important than your stupid ass," Ashley joked.

"Hey! Pendejo!"

"Hey! Enough, guys. Focus. We have a mission to complete," Shepard yelled.

"Sorry, Shepard… I mean, sir," Ashley said.

"Me too, Commander," James added.

"We almost there Cortez?" Shepard asked.

"Just about!" Steve shouted from the pilot's seat. The shuttle landed on some rocky terrain near a field of solar panels a few minutes later. "This is as far as I can get you. You'll have to walk the rest of the way."

"It's not too bad. Thanks, Cortez. Let's go," Shepard ordered. The shuttle doors opened to reveal a scenery of red terrain stretching miles ahead of the Mars Archives.

"Damn. Looks like a storm's coming in. We better hurry this up," James spoke. Shepard diverted his attention to the sandstorm that was a few kilometers away to his right.

"Then let's go." The trio started walking across the dirt terrain, jumping down onto a ledge that led to the front entrance of the base. Along the way, they saw a dead body lying against a crate of supplies.

"Whoa. This seems recent. Who do you think could've done this?"

"I don't know. But let's keep going." A few meters away, they spotted a group of Cerberus Assault troops executing Alliance soldiers. A Cerberus soldier shot an Alliance soldier in the head. Shepard, James and Ashley took cover behind some crates.

"Shit! They're executing them!" Ashley whispered out loud.

"Cerberus… I should've known they would be involved in this sooner or later."

"What are they doing here?" James asked.

"I don't know. We should find out, though." Shepard motioned James to take the right flank and Ashley to take the left. Shepard then signaled the two to throw frag grenades. The grenades impacted some of the Cerberus troops which motivated them to speed up the executions. Eventually, every Alliance soldier was picked off one by one, and lying on the ground, dead. Shepard fired a concussive shot while James fired a carnage shot. Ashley started firing with her Avenger. James pulled out his Katana shotgun and walked towards the remaining Cerberus troops. The spread of the shotgun managed to pierce the troops' armor and cause bleeding. James fired again, causing instant death.

"Clear!" Shepard and Ashley stood up and followed behind James towards a group of stacked crates and two tanks. The only sound that was audible now was the wind that was approaching from the nearby sandstorm. Things were too quiet… They were near a vital entrance to the base, but there seemed to be no more troops.

"This base is heavily armed with very tight security, making it impossible to break into. They must've had help from the inside; that's the only possible explanation," Ashley explained. A few seconds later, Harrier bullets whizzed past their heads, causing their fighting instincts to kick in and take cover.

"Shit! More of them!" James yelled.

"Thanks for the update!"

"Guys! Stay focused damn it!" Shepard grunted. The Cerberus troops' main weapon of choice was a Talon or a Harrier. Shepard knew more about Cerberus than anyone else, including their tactics. They used mobile defenses such as shield pylons, shield barricades, etc. James stood up and fired a blast from the Katana. The drill rounds shot through the multiple lines of Cerberus troops, causing most of them to stagger. Ashley used this window to fire her Avenger and freeze some of the targets before they regained their balance. Shepard finished off some of the targets that were frozen with his omni-blade. The remaining targets were finished off with Shepard's concussive shot and James' Carnage shot. "Clear!" The trio walked past the dead bodies and walked up the vehicle ramp that led to the elevator that lifts vehicles into the base. Shepard walked to the elevator control console and input his personal ID code to gain access to the base's systems. He powered in the elevator, causing the room to be decontaminated and be filled with oxygen. Everyone took off their helmets and waited for the elevator to move.

"Shepard… I just need to ask you something…" Ashley spoke. "Cerberus couldn't possibly know how to break past the defenses on this base, unless… unless it was you that helped them. How do I know that you don't work for Cerberus anymore?" Shepard had gone over this issue before with Ashley. It pissed him off greatly that she still thought that he worked "for" Cerberus. The good thing was that his entire crew was able to vouch for him and say that he didn't. But, it looked like she still wouldn't listen.

"Let me get one thing straight," Shepard said with an angry tone. "I didn't work FOR Cerberus, I worked WITH them. And I DON'T work with them anymore."

"Ashley, Commander Shepard has been under constant surveillance since he came back to Earth. No way they've communicated since then," James vouched. After a few minutes, the elevator had powered on and slowly started to move. The doors above the trio opened, allowing space for the elevator to surface.

"I just… need more time to think," Ashley said softly.

"It's okay, Ash. But now is not the time to worry about that. We need to focus on our mission," Shepard said. Ashley nodded. The elevator stopped in a room full of tanks and mining trucks. There were also crates of ammunition and other supplies. The trio walked forward, listening to the quietness of the room to see if there were any survivors. A few seconds later, gunfire was being heard. The source of the sound was coming from the vent that was above them. Footsteps were also being heard.

_What the hell? A survivor? Or two? More? _Shepard thought. The sounds continued to resonate throughout the vehicle bay, until the vent was opened and out came a person with what seemed like blue skin. The person turned around to confront the two Cerberus troops that were chasing her, and used her biotic powers to create a Singularity, causing the troops to be swallowed by the bubble of energy. The person then took out a Predator pistol and shot the two troops in the head, causing instant kills. After the person turned around, she was easily recognizable.

"Liara?" Shepard asked.

"Shepard!"

**Well, hope you enjoyed chapter 4. By the way, there is a poll that I put up on my profile. To save you some time from reading the question, it is about who Shepard should pair up with later in the story, or if he should just stay single. I am working on chapter 5, and I would like to say that I can get it up in the next hour, but I don't count on it happening. Hope you guys continue on reading my story, I am proud of what I have put in this story. It may seem a bit boring at first, and I'm sorry, but this is like the build-up. I will tell you this; things will get better and perhaps crazy once we get to the Citadel. I guess after you read what I will put for the characters' time at the Citadel, you could say "what happens at the Citadel, stays at the Citadel." ;) Well, review, fav, and follow! Until next time, guys!**

** Quiet Thunder**


	6. Chapter 5

**An End, Once and For All**

** Well, I am very glad that I have more follows and favs! I got another review, and it was a great one! Thank you TheLost for posting that review, it made me get off my butt and update. Remember to check out the poll. Review, fav and follow! Oh, and also PM me if you'd like. I feel so lonely! Haha, just kidding. I have plenty of friends, don't worry. I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update. To make up for all the time I have been away, I have made this chapter longer for you all. I hope you like it. I have been busy with school and dance that I have been taken away from this story. Don't worry; I plan to go on with this story. I will not give up on it. Anyway, enough of me talking, I will shut up, and get going. **

V

Earth, Vancouver

Admiral David Anderson

Ever since Shepard left Earth, things had gotten worse. Of course things would get worse; the entire galaxy was unprepared for the Reaper invasion. The war was now waging everywhere, especially Earth. The streets of Vancouver were all covered in rubble. Smoke and ash filled the air, causing the clouds to become a dusty color. There was so much smoke that it had blocked out the sun when it shone its colors the most during midday. The one thing that soldiers of the Alliance would look forward to every morning to provide light in the darkness would now never come to life. Bodies were being dumped into mass graves in order to use them to create more Reaper foot soldiers. Alliance soldiers were being lost left and right. Key officials that were in charge of carrying out strike orders never reported to their posts after the invasion had begun. The Reapers for now had accomplished scattering the human population and cutting off communications, leaving the civilization in the deep, dark abyss.

The underground bunker kept shaking from all of the explosions occurring on the surface. The bunker was below the streets of Vancouver. A lot of the asphalt that covered the streets was now missing, allowing some of the combat engineer teams to dig underground and provide a temporary base that was on the outskirts of Vancouver. This group of Alliance military personnel was extremely lucky to make it out alive. All hope was not lost for them though, since they had one man leading them that all of them could look up to. Anderson. A lot of pressure had been placed upon him, which had been wearing him down greatly ever since the invasion began. But, he kept it together. He had to. He was now responsible for the lives of over 500 men, and there could possibly be more survivors. Anderson had called all of the troops he had for a mission briefing. He had showed them all his plans to start moving some troops onto the streets and start heading towards downtown. Communications were cut, but there was a building in downtown that was the tallest, and still resides as the tallest out of all the buildings that are either damaged or destroyed. There was a large communication tower on top that one of the engineers could possibly hack into and send a message to one of the Mass Relay Communication stations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Then, the station could send out a distress call to the Pegasus Galaxy to General Pepper of Corneria or Richard Woolsey of the city of the Ancients, Atlantis. But, he needed to execute his plans now.

"I know it's going to be a one-way ticket to hell… I know that it's a lot to ask of you, considering what we went through in the past few days. But, we need to stay strong and stay positive if we have any hopes to defeat the Reapers. So… who will volunteer to come with me? I will need about 200 capable men." At first, the street was completely silent, with all of the military personnel standing in their places just looking at Anderson like he was crazy or something. But, everyone knew that they had to try something. Even if it cost them their own lives.

"I'll go, sir," one man called out as he raised his hand.

"Me too, sir!" another man shouted.

"I'll go as well!"

"Count me in!" Hands kept rising into the air, eventually everyone did. Anderson saw that these people would follow him everywhere, no matter what was on the long road ahead of them. He smiled and motioned for everyone to put their hands down.

"I'm glad that all of you want to go. I wanted to keep this bunker under control, but perhaps we can just seal it off and use it later if we have to," Anderson said. "I need all of you then to go and suit up, lock and load, and meet here in this spot in twenty minutes. Understood?"

"SIR, YES SIR!" Everyone started scrambling to the entrance of the bunker, heading to their footlockers to suit up and prepare for battle. Anderson looked up to the sky to see more Reaper capital ships entering the atmosphere with fire encasing them, making them look like meteors lighting up the "night" sky.

"I hope you hear all of us Pepper… or Atlantis," Anderson whispered to himself. He stood in his spot for a minute before walking to his quarters down in the bunker to go prepare for the mission. Anderson walked down one of the hallways, making his way past one soldier after the other, trying to reach his room. The frontline soldiers were getting their suits on, loading their Predator pistols and Avenger rifles. The snipers loaded Mantises, Widows, Black Widows, Krysaes, etc. The anti-vehicle soldiers loaded Cobra Missile Launchers onto their backs, taking with them shotguns such as the Geth Plasma Shotgun and the Claymore.

Anderson reached his quarters and immediately went for his footlocker. He opened it, revealing his armor, and his weapons. He gathered all of his belongings and packed them into a bag that he would carry on his back. A few minutes had passed when Anderson's mind had drifted off. He thought about London; his hometown. He thought about all of his longtime friends that lived there. He wondered if they were still alive. Though Anderson forced himself to be optimistic, it was still likely his friends were dead. Anderson's thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling out to him.

"Sir? Sir?" Anderson snapped out of his thoughts and turned around.

"Oh… Uh, sorry… What do you need, son?"

"I believe everyone is ready, sir," the soldier said.

"Already?"

"I think everyone just wants to get this over with."

"Okay, then… let's go." The man nodded and left the room. Anderson quickly followed behind him. The two walked through the now empty corridors. Each room was just another room of rock. They reached the entrance to the bunker where all of the combat engineers were waiting for the order to seal the bunker. "Do it," Anderson said to one of the combat engineers. The man nodded and all of them started to pile in large-sized rocks. "Okay… are all of you ready to go?" All of the soldiers nodded. "Thank you… all of you… for volunteering. I know that not all of us will make it out alive. So… all I can say is… Godspeed. Move out." The massive group started marching through the streets. Anderson was careful to avoid the section of the city that is called "No Man's Land" since anyone who goes there never seems to return. Huge firefights have broken out there. The area was near downtown, but even with the big number of troops, there was no way in hell they were going to travel through that area. It was suicide. The operation is now a go…

Rio de Janeiro

Private James Ramirez

"Ambush! Ambush!" TATATATATATTAT! BOOM!

"Get to fucking cover!" BOOM! TATATATATATAT!

"Reloading!"

"There's too many of them!"

It was sunset in Rio de Janeiro. Private James Ramirez was ordered to scout the nearby favela for any survivors by his squad leader, Sergeant John Hammond. The whole squad consisted of twenty Alliance soldiers, so Ramirez took ten with him. Hammond appointed Ramirez to be in charge of the ten men including himself he would lead because he visioned Ramirez being a leader. In fact, he had helped Hammond out quite a bit with keeping the squad together. Their squad was responsible for the security of the main and the only Mass Relay station in Rio. Hammond stayed at the station to fortify the station against the Reaper foot soldiers. Ramirez's team had encountered at least thirty-plus Marauders, and was hiding behind a few toppled cars.

_Click! Click! _"Fuck! I'm out!" Ramirez yelled as he just fired his last round from his Revenant.

"Here, take this James!" Corporal Chris Dunn shouted and tossed a clip to Ramirez.

"Thanks!" Ramirez reloaded and stood up once again to fire at the incoming enemies. Ramirez was an excellent marksman. Headshots just came very easy for him. He managed to pick off a few Marauders until he noticed more coming. "Shit! Team! Watch your left flank!" The whole team responded to the warning by shifting their attention to the left side of the street that they were on and focused on an alleyway.

"We can't stay here forever, James! We gotta go! We need to get back to the station!"

"I know, I know!" TATATATATAT!

"Fine… I'll distract them! You guys go, I'll be right behind you!" Dunn stood up and pulled out a Chakram Launcher. The discs created multiple explosions, creating enough time for the team to escape.

"Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go!" The soldiers sprinted towards the end of the street and down another one as they made their way through the confusing maze of the favela. Eventually, the team made it out of the favela, only to see Cannibals blocking their only way back to the station. There were a good fifty of them.

"Shit…" Dunn sighed.

"Come on, bro. Let's fuck 'em up," Ramirez said and laughed.

Sergeant John Hammond

"Keep the pressure on them! They're about to retreat! I know it!" Hammond yelled at the top of his lungs. The other ten soldiers including him, were doing a damned good job of keeping the swarms of Cannibals and Husks at bay. The station was still intact, and was still capable of sending urgent messages to other star systems, even galaxies. Hammond stopped firing his Mattock and went inside the station. He radioed for Ramirez. "Ramirez! Come in!" There was no response. "Ramirez! Come in! Where the fuck are you?!"

"Man down! Man down!"

"Fuck." Hammond went back outside and grabbed the injured soldier and dragged him inside the station. "Get your ass in here, Jenkins! You know I'm not the doc here!"

"Yes, sir!" Private Sam Jenkins yelled and ran inside the station and attended to the wounded soldier.

"Ah, fuck it hurts!" the soldier screamed in pain. "Make the fucking pain go away! Please!"

"Just stay still! I need to apply the medi-gel, but I can't do that with you moving all over the place!"

"Here, I'll hold him down," Hammond said and planted his hands down on each of the soldier's arms. "Do it." Jenkins nodded and activated his omni-tool. He held the holographic device over the soldier's abdominal wounds and applied the medi-gel. Soon enough, the soldier's screaming stopped. He stopped moving and started breathing slowly. "What's your name, son?"

"… Mark…" Mark spoke, managing to keep the pain in his abdomen at bay.

"Mark. Alright, Mark. Just stay still. The doc here will take care of ya, alright?" Mark quietly nodded and Hammond stood back up. A few seconds later, bullets penetrated the glass and entered the station. Hammond quickly ducked down. "Hey! Men, I thought we had them under control!"

"We did sir, but more of them are coming! We're going to be overrun!"

"Well, shit…" _Ramirez where the fuck are you? _Hammond thought.

"Go, sir. I got this."

"You better." Hammond walked back outside and pulled out his Mattock. TATATTATATAT! "Get some, motherfuckers! Ragh!"

"Sir! I got Ramirez in sight!"

"Where?!" Ramirez and his team ran towards the swarm of Reapers and flanked them. Waves of Cannibals and Husks were easily destroyed due to the maneuver. The few that remained ran off. "It's about fucking time you showed up, Ramirez!"

"Sorry, sir…" Ramirez spoke, nearly out of breath. "We barely made it out of the favela…"

"Were there any survivors?"

"None, sir."

"Shit… Well, it looks like we're on our own. I need to fucking retire after this war." Hammond laughed to himself and sat down on the ground. "Jesus, look at the fucking city." The city lay in ruins. Smoke was emanating from each skyscraper, causing a wall of smoke to form in front of the city, making it harder for the naked eye to see through.

"Damn it… If we could've found someone… I would've been glad."

"I know. Me too, Ramirez," Dunn said and put his hand on Ramirez's shoulder. The squad all stood and observed the dull scenery that was before them. Water reflecting the bleeding colors of orange and red coming from the sun behind them, mixed with a city of ruin. Was there any hope of winning this war?

Downtown, Vancouver

Admiral David Anderson

Anderson and his army of 500 men walked through the streets of downtown. It was a somewhat easy mission, considering the amount of men he had at his command. Even if there were at times a large mass of Reapers, the army had tanks and turrets with them, making it easy to pick them off one by one. Everyone was exhausted and sweaty. Anderson could hear all of them breathing heavily. Nobody had the rest that they needed to fight this war, or to even function normally. The army had reached an intersection of downtown. Anderson thought this would be a good place for everyone to settle down and take a breather. He scouted the area and got a good view of the building he needed to get to. It was 130 stories, give or take. Most of the building was still intact, surprisingly. The tower seemed to still be functioning on the roof. He thought that sending everyone there would be suicide, considering the two Reaper Destroyers, a few dozen Brutes and an armada of Cannibals, Husks and Marauders were all guarding the skyscraper. He went back to his army and spoke out to them.

"Listen. All of you," Anderson spoke. Everyone turned their attention to him. "I just scouted the building. It would be suicide to send all of you there. So… I decided that I'm going to go in there alone."

"Wait, sir?! Are you out of your mind?! You'll get killed!"

"Yeah! And who will lead us then? We can't lose you, sir!"

"Look, it's a one-man mission, and I'm going in! Now, all of you will stay put, and I will see if I can get shuttles to extract you! According to reports I've been getting, there is a lot of unusual activity going on in London. Reports say that the Reapers are up to something and the Alliance wants every able man their if possible. So… Just watch yourselves, okay?" Everyone looked at each other, then quietly nodded. Everyone thought that Anderson was out of his mind, but they dare not question him. "Okay. Well, here we go…" Anderson whispered to himself and turned around to walk towards the skyscraper.

It took Anderson a few minutes to reach the outer perimeter of the Reaper's defenses. He scouted the plaza and noted to himself of the four Brutes that guarded the main entrance. No way he would be able to get past them undetected. He looked around and saw that there was a fire escape that went a few floors up on the left side of the building. He started to stealthily walk towards the fire escape and started walking up the stairs. He realized that there was no power in the building, so he couldn't take the elevator.

"Damn it, I'm too old for this… Ain't nobody got time for this…" Anderson cursed himself for going by himself. But he ventured on anyway. He eventually reached the top of the fire escape, which brought him to the 30th floor. He then looked up and observed the other 100 floors he would have to climb. "Fuck…" He then opened the door and entered the building. To his surprise, this floor was untouched. Tables still resided in their places, the carpet floor was nice and clean. It was dark, so Anderson couldn't see much. He could only see where he needed to go to get up to the roof. He made his way to the stairwell which had emergency lights on, which he took advantage of. He walked up the many flights of stairs as fast as he could. He had reached the 50th floor until he noticed that the next few flights of stairs were damaged, making it harder for him to reach the next few floors. Anderson had to jump, sidestep along edges, and had a few close calls when he slipped and caught the edge of the damaged staircase with one hand and pulled himself up. He reached level 60 and saw that he would have to find another stairwell that would lead him to the upper levels. He opened the door and saw that most of the walls were all gone, allowing him to feel the breeze of the air up in the sky. He was able to see better on this floor, due to the amount of light that was flooding the floor. He spotted the elevators and shook his head.

"Why? Why the fuck does the power have to be off?" Anderson then found another staircase that would most likely lead him to the roof. He easily climbed another 40 levels, until he started feeling cold air flooding the stairwell. He then noticed that the stairwell was incomplete. This section of the building was almost completely gone; he was surprised that the structure hadn't collapsed. He could see more stairs above him, but there was not a thing he could do to reach them. He searched the area, only to conclude to himself that he would have to climb the outside of the building. "Shit…" Anderson made his way to the exterior of the building and grabbed a metal bar sticking out of some rubble above him. He pulled himself up onto a beam that ran along the side of the building. Anderson took in the breathtaking view of the other skyscrapers that competed against the one he was on, and the streets below him. He was not afraid of heights, or afraid to die; he was just afraid he wouldn't get to the radio tower in time to send the message to Rio. He climbed a support beam that went up diagonally, which made him ascend a good ten levels, until he jumped up and grabbed a ledge. He could feel that the rubble was starting to crack, so he quickened his slow pace and climbed faster.

Eventually he reached the roof and started walking towards the ladder on the radio tower. The control room was near the top of the tower. Anderson could feel the full effect of the cold air that surrounded the rooftop.

"I guess it's a good thing I'm losing hair," Anderson joked and climbed the ladder. The radio tower was a good fifty feet. It took a couple of minutes for Anderson to reach the control room. He climbed onto the catwalk, and walked up the stairs and opened the door to the control room. He turned on the power and smiled to himself. "Hell yeah, the power still works! Okay then…" Anderson found the console and powered it on. He brought up the commands to send a message to Rio. He typed in what was necessary for General Pepper and Richard Woolsey to know about what was happening in the Milky Way. He then sent the message. Anderson then leaned back in the chair that he was sitting in, and sighed.

"Holy shit… That was easy." He soon regretted those words when he noticed that two Harvesters had fired at the tower. "OH SHIT!" The control room exploded and Anderson fell out. He was now free falling towards the ground. "AHHH!" Anderson turned around and dodged the falling debris that was once the radio tower. Then, he faced the ground once more, to see that the Harvesters were priming their cannons. "FUCK!" The cannons fired large red orbs that he managed to dodge. He then noticed that more debris was falling. Soon enough, the entire building was coming down. Anderson had no way out of this. This was how he would go out. "Retirement couldn't be any better than this…" Anderson then saw a shuttle fly by and a rope shot out from the side.

"Grab the rope, sir!" a voice on his headset commanded.

"Major Coats?!"

"Yes, sir! Now grab onto the rope!" Anderson complied and grabbed onto the rope. The shuttle then took off into the air and flew over Vancouver. Anderson looked around him and saw that there were dozens of shuttles flying in formation along with fighters. "We got your message! We've extracted your men and we're now headed to London! Now get your ass in here, sir!" Anderson was being dragged through the air while he held on tightly to the rope. He climbed the rope slowly and boarded the shuttle. An Alliance soldier assisted him and pulled him up into the back of the shuttle. The soldier closed the door.

"Whoo… Thanks, Major."

"You're welcome, sir. Quite a stunt you pulled there," Coats replied.

"Yeah… remind me to not go solo again." Anderson was breathing fast. He sat down in the cockpit with Coats.

"You think the message reached Rio?"

"Well, I hope so. I had to make time for that, you know."

"But you ain't no Sweet Brown, sir. You do have time for that."

"Yeah, right. I guess we'll find out soon enough…"

Rio de Janeiro

"Sir! You're gonna wanna see this!" Hammond drew his attention to a soldier that was sitting at a console on one of the desks in the control room of the station.

"What is it?"

"A message, sir. From Vancouver."

"Vancouver? What the hell? Put it up on the screen."

"Yes, sir." The message was displayed on the large screen that was in the center of the room.

"It's a message from Admiral Anderson. We need to send this!"

"To who?"

"General Pepper of Corneria in the Lylat System and Richard Woolsey of Atlantis. Both are in the Pegasus Galaxy."

"Got it, sir. Sending… now!"

"Good. Let's see if we can find a ride over to London. We're done here."

"But, sir?"

"We're going, private."

"Sir! Wait!" Hammond looked outside. There was a Reaper Capital ship approaching the station.

"SHIT! MOV-" The Reaper fired its weapon upon the station. The squad had no time to dodge the beam of death…

Yokai World

Castle Shuzen

Issa, Tenmei and Touhou got up, stretching out their bodies. They still were in pain from the fight they had gotten into with Tsukune.

"Damn. That boy has sure learned a lot on how to kick ass," Tenmei spoke.

"Bitch please, I do that every day," Issa groaned.

"And yet, he kicked your ass. Just shut the fuck up, Issa."

"I'll get him next time!"

"Yeah, I'd like to see that. Are you blind? He just raped all three of us!" I believe he said something about sticking his dick in your throat?"

"Yeah, he sounded pretty convincing," Touhou said. "Would've liked to see that."

"Yeah, you would you fag," Issa snapped back.

"No, I would just love to see your ass get beat again."

"Just… get the fucking word out to all of the monsters. Set up a portal to the station near the Mass Relay. Everyone will evacuate on shuttles and proceed to the Citadel."

"I hope we'll be welcomed." Touhou started walking away.

"Yeah, me too."

"I need to get back to Yokai Academy, start evacuating the students there," Tenmei said as he started walking away. Issa sat down in his throne and thought quietly to himself. A few minutes later, the doors to the throne room open. He opened his eyes to see that Aqua and Kokoa were walking towards him.

"Father!" Aqua called out, delighted to see her father once again. "It's good to see you. You said you needed us to come here?"

"That I did. I need you two to leave immediately."

"What for?" Kokoa asked.

"The Reapers are coming. We need to head for the Citadel."

"Okay… How will we get to Alucardo Station then?" Aqua asked.

"Touhou is setting up a portal outside the castle that will take you there. Then you will take a shuttle and head for the Citadel."

"But what about Moka and Kahlua?" Kokoa asked, worried about her precious sisters.

"They're fine. They're both in the hands of Tsukune now, and they're headed for the Citadel."

"Okay… Well, we'll get going then." Kokoa slowly started to accept Tsukune for who he was, but she still hated the fact that he was the only one who could remove Moka's rosary. She had feelings for him, however. Ever since that day on that ski trip… The thought made her blush as she and Aqua walked away. Aqua on the other hand, couldn't wait to see Tsukune. She thought he was the hottest guy she had ever seen and met in her life, even though he was a human, or at least half now. She wished that she and Tsukune were together. She desires to get into his pants and steal his virginity. Even though he left to join the military, she knew he would never take the pleasure of having affairs with multiple women; he just wasn't like that. So, it was for certain that he was still innocent. She blushed at that thought.

The two vampire sisters walked out of the castle, to see that monsters were approaching the portal that Touhou had set up. They walked to the portal and entered it.

Tenmei reached Yokai Academy and approached Ruby and Yukari, who were cleaning the ground.

"Yukari, what are you doing here?" Tenmei asked the young witch.

"Oh, Exorcist! I'm here to visit Ruby of course!"

"Well, that's nice. But, Ruby."

"Yes, Mr. Director?"

"I need you to get all of the students evacuated to the portal just outside of Castle Shuzen and make sure they reach Alucardo Station, so that they may travel to the Citadel. The Reapers are coming."

"Okay, sir. But what about Moka, and her sisters? And Gin? Kurumu? Mizore?"

"I haven't seen Gin, Kurumu or Mizore ever since they graduated from here. I'm sorry. However, Kokoa and Aqua just left through the portal. Tsukune had come by the castle not too long ago to take Moka and Kahlua with him."

"Oh, really?!"

"Yes, he didn't have time to say hi." Ruby and Yukari were not hurt at all that Tsukune didn't come to see them; they knew he was a busy man, and at time like this, he was for sure stressed out. But, they still had their hopes of seeing the old gang together again.

"I will get these students evacuated, sir."

"Wonderful. Thank you, Ruby." Tenmei then vanished into thin air. Ruby went into Tenmei's office and issued the evacuation order. Everyone was in a state of panic and confusion. However, everyone made it to the portal in time. Soon enough, all the monsters had went through the portal. Ruby and Yukari entered the portal.

"Well Tenmei, it looks like it's just you, me and Issa," Touhou spoke.

"Let's go, I'm packed up," Issa said as he walked through the portal with a backpack on his back.

"What does he have that for?"

"For all of his porn magazines, since Gyokuro and Akasha left him." The two Dark Lords laughed and entered the portal. The portal then vanished into thin air, leaving the place in complete silence. The Great Barrier was then broken, exposing the Yokai World to the rest of Earth.

Alucardo Station

The portal opened inside the shuttle bay, allowing all of the monsters to come in and find a shuttle to board so that they may travel to the Mass Relay and get to the Citadel. Kokoa and Aqua walked through, and were overwhelmed by the crowd of monsters in front of them, finding their way to the shuttles. A few minutes had passed until they heard their names being called by two familiar voices.

"Kokoa! Aqua!" The two sisters searched the crowd to see who was calling their names. Due to their amplified senses, they were able to pinpoint the origin of the callings and spotted two very familiar witches.

"Ruby! Yukari!" Kokoa shouted. She had a bright big smile on her face. She was happy to see Ruby, especially Yukari. Since her and Yukari were close in age, they got along well. She hugged Yukari tightly, and the two enjoyed their little reunion. Ruby hugged Aqua. Aqua was happy to see them both as well. They were both very nice people.

"It's good to see you two!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Same with you!" Aqua replied. "I wish we would be able to see each other under better circumstances."

"Yeah… I'm worried about Gin! And Kurumu and Mizore…" Yukari drifted off.

"I know. I'm sure they'll be okay." The quartet's reunion was interrupted shortly by a blazing alarm and a voice over the PA system.

_Warning. Reapers detected in proximity of station. Please evacuate to the nearest shuttle immediately. _ The warning kept repeating. Everyone soon started to panic. Some people were being shoved down onto the ground as everyone frantically rushed to the nearest shuttle and boarded. The shuttles started leaving the hangar one by one. The quartet managed to board a shuttle.

"Hold on tight, everyone!" The pilot called out from the cockpit. Everyone in the shuttle sat down as it flew out of the hangar. The shuttles soon encountered Reaper Destroyers that surrounded the station, that were getting ready to fire their weapons. Every shuttle made evasive maneuvers. Some were unsuccessful since they were destroyed by the power of the beams. A majority of the shuttles made it to the Mass Relay. The shuttles instantly flew forward at incredible speeds into the void of space.

The Serpent Nebula

The Citadel

The shuttles arrived at the Citadel and proceeded to dock at the many docks that were available on the Presidium Ring. The shuttle that the quartet was in had docked in docking bay E-24. They entered the area and saw that there were some refugees that had started to set up camp here. They took in the sights of the many screens that had advertisements for the Silver Coast Casino and the Purgatory Bar, including the new Blasto movie that was going to come out soon. Soon, they heard their names being called by three very familiar voices that they instantly recognized.

"Aqua! Kokoa! Ruby! Yukari!" The three voices called out. The quartet faced the direction of the voices and saw Gin, Kurumu and Mizore standing a few feet away from them!"

"Oh my god! Guys!" Ruby and Yukari exclaimed and ran towards the trio. The trio smiled and embraced the two witches with open, warm arms.

"Man, it's been too long guys!" Gin exclaimed.

"You sure have changed a lot!" Kurumu spoke to Yukari.

"I see that you're boobs are still as big as I can remember!" Yukari shot back.

"And the best part is that they're mine!" Gin shouted as he jumped into the air and clicked his heels together. Kurumu slapped Gin upside the head and gave him a mean look. Gin just stood there, holding his head and chuckled slightly.

"So, where's Tsukune?" Mizore asked in her usual soft voice.

"He should be here soon… The Director told us so," Ruby replied.

"You still work at Yokai Academy? I miss that place…" Kurumu drifted off as she began to think about all of the good memories she made there.

"What about Moka and Kahlua?"

"They're with Tsukune, apparently," Kokoa said. Gin looked behind the two witches to look at Kokoa.

"And you sure have grown as well!"

"Shut up, Gin."

"Okay, then. Not gonna go there. Well guys, what say we go to the Presidium and wait for Tsukune to arrive, eh?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Aqua replied. The rest of the group nodded in agreement and headed towards the elevator to head down to the Presidium Commons.

The Pegasus Galaxy

The Lylat System

Corneria

Fox McCloud

"Fox, you need to get to the Mass Relay and head to the Milky Way! Commander Shepard needs your help! He will be at the Citadel!" General Pepper spoke. Fox was in his apartment along with Krystal, Slippy, Falco and Peppy. They were communicating with Pepper via video.

"You got it, General! Star Fox team, let's go!" Everyone nodded and ran out of the apartment and down a hall that led to an elevator. Everyone piled in and headed down to the Arwing hangar. The gang got into their respective Arwings and powered them up. "Check your G-Diffuser systems.

"I'm fine," Falco replied.

"I'm ready when you are!" Krystal exclaimed.

"I'm ready, I'm ready!" Slippy squealed.

"I'm too old to be ready! Ain't nobody got time for that!"

"Okay then, I assume everyone… is ready. Let's rock and roll!" Fox exclaimed. One at a time, the Arwings left the hangar. The quintet left Corneria space and proceeded to fly to the Mass Relay. In order to travel between the Pegasus and Milky Way Galaxies, there had to be three Mass Relays. Mass Relays can only make a ship travel a little over 50,000 light years. The Arwings approached the Mass Relay and allowed the travel system to envelop the quintet to let them travel to the next two Mass Relays to reach the Citadel. Now it was up to another group to make their way to the Citadel…

The City of the Ancients, Atlantis

Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard

John Sheppard sat in his room with his good friend, the Satedan, Ronon Dex. The two had been eating some food from the mess hall. They were serving mashed potatoes with Salisbury steak and green beans. They were listening to some Johnny Cash, which was one of Sheppard's favorite artists. Ronon, of course, did not know of Johnny Cash, but he started to like his music. Today was a day off. Everyone had been working their asses off, so Richard Woolsey told everyone that they deserved some time off. However, the PA system came on inside Sheppard's quarters.

"Colonel Sheppard, please report to the control room immediately."

"Damn it, I'm in the middle of my lunch!" Sheppard yelled at the speaker.

"Ain't nobody got time for that!" Ronon quoted Sweet Brown."

"Since when did you know about Sweet Brown?"

"I looked her up."

"Oh. Well… Okay. Let's go." Sheppard and Ronon stood up and started walking to Stargate Operations. They arrived to see Woolsey standing at the Stargate controls.

"Ah. Gentlemen. Good to see you Ronon," Woolsey said. "Please, follow me to my office." The two men nodded and followed Woolsey into his office. Woolsey closed the glass door.

"So, what's the matter? Ain't nobody-" Sheppard began but was cut off.

"Got time for that, yes, I know who Sweet Brown is. Unfortunately, you and your team are to have to make time for this."

"What is it?" Woolsey handed Sheppard a tablet. Sheppard began reading the text, and his eyes widened greatly. "Oh no…"

"Yes. You need to get to the Citadel immediately. You must meet up with Tsukune Aono, Fox McCloud and John Shepard."

"Oh, hey. I know John. He has one less 'p' in his last name."

"Okay, yes, I saw. You need to go."

"Man… I never finished my lunch… Let's go Ronon. Go get Teyla and Rodney."

"Got it," Ronon replied. He walked out of the room to go find the other two members of Sheppard's team. Sheppard headed up to the armory to put on his armor and get an Avenger. He turned around and saw the rest of his team. Major Lorne was also there with his team.

"Major," Sheppard acknowledged the Major.

"Colonel," Lorne replied.

"What's going on?" Teyla asked.

"Yeah, what was more important than me getting my beauty sleep?"

"Oh, shut up Rodney. Earth is being attacked by Reapers. The entire Milky Way is in danger," Sheppard explained.

"Oh no…"

"Yeah, oh no. Let's go!" Everyone hurried to put their armor on and headed to the jumper bay. Everyone managed to fit in one jumper. Sheppard piloted the jumper into the gate room and flew through the gate. There was a gate near the Mass Relay, so traveling there wasn't too bad. The jumper went through the numerous Mass Relays and finally reached the Citadel. Sheppard docked at docking bay E-24 on the Presidium Ring.

"Welcome to the Citadel everyone. Please remain in your seats until the jumper has come to a complete stop. Thank you," Sheppard spoke. "Please, enjoy your stay."

**I have ideas of tying in Stargate: Atlantis and Star Fox into this. It may sound really stupid, but I am a person who likes to try out new things. I hope you guys like it. Once again, I'm sorry it took me so long to update. Read, review, fav, follow, etc. Please, enjoy!**

**Quiet Thunder**


	7. Chapter 6

**An End, Once and For All**

** Oh, it just makes me happy knowing that people are reading this story. So, I stated in the last chapter that I'm adding two new groups to this story. I might add one more, I don't know, it's just I have had so many ideas lately that I just felt the urge to tie them into this story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy chapter 6!**

VI

Mars Archives Base, Mars

Liara started to walk towards Shepard. To Liara, Shepard was looking better than ever, even if he was off active-duty. He managed to maintain that manly figure of his, including his facial features that she admired. James had never met Liara before, so he perceived her as a possible threat. Shepard was unaware of this until he turned around to introduce James to Liara. James was aiming his Avenger at the Asari.

"Easy, Lieutenant. She's with us," Shepard spoke and lightly pushed down James' weapon. James put it away and stood in a normal posture. Shepard turned back around to face Liara again.

"It's good to see you again, Shepard," Liara said with a small smile on her face.

"You too, Liara," Shepard replied, bringing about a smile to his lips. The two locked eyes with each other for a few seconds before Liara broke the small silence that was brought about in the vehicle bay.

"I'm sorry, Shepard… When I heard about Earth…"

"I know…" Shepard had turned his head down to face the ground and he closed his eyes. The happiness that struck him from reuniting with Liara was easily washed away by pain and anger of the Reaper attack on Earth. Just why the fuck would they not listen?

"It must've been… hard to leave."

"Yeah, it was," Ashley butted in.

"Anyways, enough about that," Liara added. "I assume you're here for the Prothean archives?"

"Yeah, we are," Shepard responded."

"Well, you're in luck." Liara walked to the nearby viewing window that gave a perfect view of the archives. It was a tall and large pillar, with a large cylindrical structure at the top. There was a tramway that connected the base with the archives. Below the tramline was a vast hole that was very deep, but you could still see the bottom of it. The others followed behind Liara to view the archives.

"Finally, some good news," James said.

"Sure, you could say that. The data we uncovered in the beacon suggests that the Protheans built a weapon of some sort. One capable of destroying the Reapers."

"I guess I'll believe it once I see it. How do we get there?" Shepard asked.

"That tramway over there will get us over to the archives. We'll have to reach the tram control to board a tram and travel across."

"Then let's go." The quartet started walking to the middle of the bay. James was all ready to kick some Cerberus ass, but that vision was destroyed by Shepard's command. "James, I need you to go back. I'm taking Ashley and Liara with me." The doors to the bay were being hacked, which caught the attention of the group. Shepard turned back around to James. "No time to argue; I need you to cover our only way out of here!" James sighed with the look of 'fine' on his face. He ran to the vehicle elevator and walked to the console. He powered on the elevator and started to descend. The doors closed, and the other three took cover as three assault troopers came in. Liara used Singularity to pull the troops out of the cover they were taking behind the glass railing. Shepard and Ashley used this brief opportunity to take out the troops. The Cerberus trio was easily taken out, causing them to fall like ragdolls once the singularity disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXX

James had ran back to the shuttle where Steve Cortez was camping out, monitoring any activity that was going on. James walked into the shuttle.

"Hey, Esteban," James said as he walked to the pilot's seat.

"Oh hey, you're back," Steve replied as he turned his seat around. "Where are the others?

"Back inside. They're heading to the archives. I just came back to make sure you don't take off anywhere."

"Oh? Babysitting me now, are you? Well, I am a very bad kid." Cortez started to rub James' leg as a joke, which caused him to step back.

"Whoa there. Sabes que no soy maricon. (You know that I'm not gay.)"

"Haha! You and your Spanish… totally caliente." James just rolled his eyes at that comment and sat down in the co-pilot's seat. A few minutes had passed by. The two soldiers started to get bored, so Cortez broke the comfortable silence between them. "Hey… how about we play a game?" James lifted his head and looked over at Cortez.

"What kinda game?"

"I don't know… Shit, I can't think of any."

"Well, way to pass the time." James went back to closing his eyes and resting his body. Cortez's mind was blank. All he could think about was Earth. _People should've heeded Shepard's warning. _Cortez was soon taken away by his thoughts by an occurring environmental hazard. The sandstorm was arriving. "Hey, James." James didn't respond. Cortez looked at him to see him sleeping. Cortez then punched him in the crotch.

"OW! What the… Fuck, man! I gotta use that later…" James groaned out as he held his precious cargo. "Out of all the places you could've hit me in, maricon…"

"Well sorry, you weren't responding when I said your name."

"What did you wake me up for?"

"The sandstorm has arrived. We should alert Shepard."

"Oh shit, you're right." James lifted himself up out of his resting position into a sitting posture in his seat. "I'll radio the Commander."

XXXXXXXXX

Shepard, Ashley and Liara had approached an airlock, which prompted them to put on their helmets before exposing themselves to the outside environment that was changing unbeknownst to them. When the airlock door opened, they were met with the harsh winds and dirt of the storm.

"Commander?!" James radioed Shepard.

"Yeah?!" Shepard screamed, trying to sound audible over the loud noise of the storm.

"A sandstorm has arrived and has interrupted communications with the Normandy!"

"Well, shit!"

"I'm gonna try to… into orbit…" James was breaking up, most likely due to the interference that the storm was causing.

"James?! Come again!" Comms were no use as of this point. "Damn it!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Shepard? Come in," Joker spoke, trying to reach the team on the surface from the bridge. "Cortez? Come in." There was no response.

"My sensors indicate that there is a sandstorm occurring in the atmosphere. It will be impossible to establish contact with the team on the surface," EDI informed Joker.

"Fuck! Try rerouting all non-essential power to the comms!"

"I already tried, Jeff. Nothing is working. We should perhaps-"

"Wait! I'm picking up a shuttle on radar… it's them!"

"Normandy, this is James, do you read?" James spoke on the comm.

"Loud and clear, James. What's going on? Where's Shepard?"

"They're back on the surface heading towards the archives. I came here to warn you guys about the sandstorm."

"Yep, we detected it just now.

"Alright, just letting you know. I'm gonna head back down now. I'll see if they need extraction. Out."

XXXXXXXXXX

The trio made it to the Prothean beacon, finally. Liara walked to the control console and started to look through the files. A few seconds had passed until the group heard a familiar voice reach out to them.

"Shepard." Everyone turned around to see that a hologram was active.

"Illusive Man," Shepard spoke.

"Long time, no see, Shepard."

"Now we know the real reason why Cerberus is here," Liara said as she turned around and went back to her task.

"Ah. Liara. Trying to extract data from the beacon? Well, you may find that objective a little hard to complete."

"What do you want?" Shepard asked.

The Illusive Man looked up at the Prothean beacon that stood at the center of the room. "… What I've always wanted."

"Shepard! The data! It's not here!" The Illusive Man grew an evil smile on his lips.

"What?" Shepard walked to the console.

"The data… somebody's extracting it from a local server."

"Ashley, check out the area!"

"On it!" Ashley replied and started a scan of the area.

"Shepard… Think about what I am trying to do," the Illusive Man spoke.

"Think about what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to destroy the Reapers and you're getting in the way!" Shepard snapped back.

"That's the thinking of a soldier. I had hoped you'd know better. Why destroy them when we can control them? Harness their power?"

"You're out of your mind! That is impossible! The only way is to wipe them out, not control them! That is not in our power!"

"I'm very disappointed in you, Shepard. I'm doing this for the benefit of humanity! Don't you want to help humanity out as well?"

"I do! But, this is the wrong way to do it!"

"Speak for yourself, Shepard."

"Join me, Illusive Man! I can't fight the Reapers alone."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Shepard. The cost of destroying them is too high. I am ensuring humanity's place in this galaxy by acquiring the knowledge to control the Reapers. So, one way or another, I'm taking that data with me."

"Over my dead body!"

"Right. We will be meeting again, soon. Goodbye, Shepard." The Illusive man sat down in his chair in his viewing platform on Chronos Station. The hologram turned off, and Shepard went to the console. Ashley had come across another console on the other side of the beacon. She spotted the woman that was in the security footage. The same woman that shot those Alliance soldiers and vented the mess hall. Dr. Eva Core.

"You! Stop right there!" Ashley ordered. The doctor ceased her actions and turned her head slightly to look behind her. Quickly, she kicked Ashley, causing her to be pushed back into the rail. The doctor destroyed the console and started to run. "Shepard!"

"I see her!" Shepard yelled. "After her! Don't let her escape!" The trio ran after the doctor. She had amazing speed and agility for a human. The trio chased her through the front security desk of the archives, a few hallways and onto the roof. Eventually, there was an end to roof, but that did not stop the doctor for there was a Cerberus shuttle ready to extract her. The shuttle was just leaving as the shuttle that James and Cortez was on was approaching.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Hand me the fucking controls man!" James yelled.

"No! You suck at piloting! Let me handle this!" Cortez shouted back.

"Fuck you. Move aside, maricon!" James forced Cortez out of his seat and sat down. "I got this one!" James collided with the Cerberus shuttle, causing it to crash back onto the roof. Meanwhile, James was struggling to keep their shuttle in the air. The trio on the roof had dodged the shuttle crash. Regaining their composure, a figure had appeared from the fire. It was the doctor, except she had a blue visor that went around the front of her face, specifically her eyes.

"Ah, great. She's an infiltration unit. No wonder why she was fucking fast," Shepard commented. Ashley was nearest to the IU, so she started attacking. The IU was very fast and agile, blocking every attack that Ashley made. Eventually, the IU grabbed Ashley by the neck and pinned her to the side of the shuttle.

"Orders?" the IU said as she contacted the Illusive Man.

"… Kill her," the Illusive Man replied. The IU nodded and pulled Ashley back then shoved her onto the metallic surface of the shuttle several times, making Ashley unconscious. Then the IU tossed her aside.

"ASHLEY!" Shepard yelled. Shepard looked at Ashley's lifeless body then turned to face the IU when he noticed that she was running at him. He pulled out his Predator pistol and fired at the IU. She went down after a whole clip.

"Carry her. We're taking her with us," Shepard ordered Liara. Liara picked up the doctor and placed her over her shoulder. Shepard walked to Ashley's body and picked her up. The Normandy arrived with the hangar open, allowing James to land the shuttle inside and for the team to board the ship. The ship began to leave as Reapers were landing onto the surface, claiming dominance over the red planet.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Fuck! I'm barely arriving at Mars!" Tsukune cursed to himself. "I don't think we're gonna make it…" Tsukune was still piloting the shuttle that he, Moka and Kahlua were in. It was a miracle that he managed to make it this far with the Reapers on his ass the whole time. He had managed to execute a few tricks in order to eliminate the Reapers behind him by flying around in circles as certain times so that the Reapers would accidently fire on each other and bring about each other's destruction, thus buying the man some time. However, a few minutes later, more Reapers showed up, and the shuttle could only go so fast.

Tsukune had reached orbit above Mars as he spotted a very familiar ship leaving the red planet.

"Wait… is that… the Normandy?!" Tsukune frantically searched for the controls to turn on the comms. "Normandy, this is Lieutenant Tsukune Aono, do you copy?!"

"Tsukune is that you?!" Shepard replied.

"Oh yes! Thank God! I've been flying towards the Mass Relay for a little while now, but there are Reapers behind me!"

"Quick! Get on board!"

"Got it!"

"YAY! We're saved, Moka!" Kahlua screamed as he hugged Moka tightly. Tsukune flew the shuttle into the hangar of the Normandy. The ramp closed and the Normandy flew at top speeds towards the Mass Relay.

"Reaching the relay in 10 seconds, Commander!" Joker shouted. Shepard exited the shuttle in the hangar and put Ashley on a bed so that once the Normandy reached the Citadel; the doctors could take her to a hospital and treat her injuries. _Hang in there, Ash, _Shepard thought. "Approaching the relay in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" The Normandy flew alongside of the Mass Relay, causing the relay to shock the ship with energy and send the ship onward to the Serpent Nebula.

The Serpent Nebula

The Citadel

Joker was soon able to see the Serpent Nebula in sight. He always admired that beautiful light violet glow of the Nebula, encasing the Citadel that was near it. He flew the ship closer to the superstructure before attempting contact with Citadel Control.

"Normandy to Citadel Control, do you copy?"

"Normandy, this is Citadel Control. We have you on radar," A female voice responded."

"Nice to hear someone who's alive and well." Joker was referring to the death he had witnessed back on Earth. "Do we have permission to dock?"

"You have clearance. You may land your ship at Docking Bay D-24 on the Presidium. Have a nice day."

"Thank you." The Normandy flew all the way to the Ring, and docked the ship at D-24 as instructed. As soon as he landed, the airlock opened and Shepard rolled Ashley out. Several doctors sighted Ashley and ran to Shepard.

"She's badly injured. She'll need medical attention," Shepard informed the four doctors."

"We'll have her taken to Huerta Memorial Hospital. Best care on the Citadel," one of the doctors replied. Shepard watched as Ashley was being transported. James and Liara had stepped out of the ship and stood behind Shepard. A man had started to make his approach toward trio. This caught the attention of Shepard and turned to face the man.

"Commander Shepard," the man called out.

"Captain Bailey," Shepard replied. "Good to see you."

"It's good to see you, too, though it's… Commander… now." An awkward silence fell between them for a few seconds.

"…Congratulations…?"

"…Thanks. Though it seems like a rank up, I don't consider it a promotion."

"How so?"

"Well, half of my job is dealing with political bullshit. I'm not really good at politics. In fact, I hate it."

"Commander Bailey?" a voice spoke on Bailey's earpiece.

"Yeah?"

"We got a problem down here at C-SEC. We need you down here."

"I'll be there in a minute." Bailey looked at Shepard for a few seconds.

"… The other half of my job. Well, I understand that the Council wants to see you, Shepard. But, I know you have someone on your crew that's injured, so you could go see her first before going to see the Council."

"I will be going with Shepard," Liara spoke.

"Okay, Liara… and what about you?" Bailey asked James.

"I'm just a tourist today. I'll… try not to get into any trouble."

"You better. Anyway, I'll see you around Shepard. If you need me, I'll be in my office down in the Embassies."

"Alright. Take care, Bailey."

"You too, Shepard."

"Alright, so what do you plan on doing James?"

"Well, while you and Bailey were talking, I've been talking to some people here about where I can find some entertainment. I'm gonna head down to the lower levels where they keep it real."

"Alright. Just stay out of trouble, Lieutenant."

"Can't promise you that."

"That is an order."

"Okay, fine. You win." Shepard grinned as James walked off past the security checkpoint and to the elevator to head down to Docking Bay E-24.

"Well, Shepard, would you like to go see Ashley first to see how she is doing?" Liara asked. "I can meet you at Councilor Udina's office when you're ready."

"I'll go pay her a visit," Shepard replied. "I'll see you at Udina's office."

"Okay, got it." Liara left to go to the Embassies. Shepard turned around and walked to the railing to stare out into the scenery of the buildings that stood tall on one of the wings and the bright light of the nebula. He then heard someone calling his name.

"Commander Shepard!" He turned around and noticed a woman in a white dress calling out his name from the waiting area. He walked over to here. She had long black hair with green eyes, average-sized breasts and a nice figure. She had a camera floating beside her head. "I'm Diana Allers. I think we can help each other. I work for an Alliance news network called 'Battlespace,'" Allers began.

"Alright. What do you want?" Shepard asked, taking interest into what Allers was saying.

"We need to have an inside view behind the frontlines. We would interview you, ask you some questions about the war, and then I would create segments for the news and broadcast them to people around the galaxy. I need a ship, and I would like that ship to be the Normandy."

"Okay… Welcome aboard." Shepard shook Allers' hand.

"Thank you! How much stuff can I bring?"

"One footlocker."

"Aye aye, Captain." Allers headed towards the Normandy airlock. Shepard made his way past the security checkpoint that had two security barriers that you would walk through. He stepped inside the elevator at the end of the walkway and pushed the button to take him to the Huerta Memorial Hospital.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tsukune stepped out of the shuttle and into the Normandy's hangar along with Moka and Kahlua. Tsukune took in his surroundings and sighted Cortez walking towards him.

"Welcome back to the Normandy, Tsukune," Cortez stated. He shook Tsukune's hand.

"Thanks, Steve." Cortez nodded and smiled. He took in the sight of the two beautiful vampire sisters who smiled at him.

"Who are these two lovely girls?" Moka and Kahlua blushed at that question. Cortez gave a small chuckle, including Tsukune who noticed the two sisters blushing.

"Right, where are my manners? This is Moka Akashiya. She has been my best friend since high school. I met her freshman year." Moka stepped forward and shook Cortez's hand. Monsters today still isolate themselves from everyone, so a majority of them have never interacted with other species, including humans though they share the same planet. Moka however has been in love with a human since the first day she met him. So, shaking another human's hand wasn't that big of a deal.

"Hi, it's really nice to meet you! Thank you for saving us back there!" Moka said in a bright tone of voice. Steve was homosexual, but it didn't mean that he didn't find women attractive. He thought that these two women were the most mesmerizing he had ever seen in his short life.

"Nice to meet you as well! And don't thank me, thank our pilot, Joker."

"Joker?"

"Jeff. We call him Joker."

"Oh, ok."

"And you are?"

"Kahlua Shuzen, Moka's half-sister! By the way, you are really cute!" Cortez laughed and smiled.

"Thank you, so are you." Kahlua's shade of red became more pronounced on her cheeks.

"Well, shall we go up to a room? I need to lie down," Tsukune stated.

"Sure!" The sisters exclaimed in unison.

"You guys can head up to the Combat Information Center and head to the area where the armory used to be. That area was under remodeling until we put a few private rooms there. Feel free to claim them," Cortez explained.

"Alright. Thanks Cortez," Tsukune said. "See ya later." Tsukune motioned for Moka and Kahlua to follow him to the elevator. The door opened and they stepped inside. Tsukune touched the screen for Deck 2 and the elevator ascended.

"Okay, so Tsukune and I can share room, and you can have your own room," Moka spat out, making it obvious that she was claiming Tsukune for herself. Tsukune slightly blushed at Moka's statement. Kahlua started to throw a big fit.

"AW! But I wanted to sleep with Tsukune!" Kahlua whined. Tsukune blushed even more. Kahlua tried to grab Tsukune but Moka acted as a shield for him.

"He's mine and mine alone!"

"Okay girls; let's not fight in the elevator!" Tsukune stepped out of Moka's protection and stood between the two vampires. The elevator stopped and the door opened. The three stepped out and walked to the left. They entered through the door that was once the armory when Cerberus had the ship. There was a hallway with 5 doors on each side. "Wow. Ten rooms. That's a lot of space." Tsukune and Moka chose the room that was at the end of the hallway and to the right, while Kahlua chose the room across from their room. The room was a nice size. There were no bathrooms, but they could use the ones on the crew deck. The bed was a king-size. There were two lamps that were on the wall and a dresser drawer. There was a TV that sat on top of the dresser drawer. The walls were a metallic gray and the carpet was a navy blue. There was a desk with a computer on it. Above the desk was a window which allowed the couple to see outside into the docking bay. They took in the sight of the Citadel. It was massive! There were lights covering every wing, with buildings being on the wing that was closest to them. The nice thing about the window was that you could see outside, but you couldn't see inside the room. Tsukune sat down at the computer. He needed to send a message to some longtime friends of his that he met when he was in the Pegasus Galaxy. He could use the long-range satellites on the Citadel to send a message across the massive span of the Milky Way and the Pegasus Galaxies.

"What are you doing, Tsukune?" Moka asked.

"I'm sending a message," Tsukune replied."

"To who?" Moka walked closer to Tsukune and looked at the computer screen.

"Who's Cloud Strife?"

"A very good friend of mine. I met him and some other friends when I went to a planet called Gaia when I was in the Pegasus Galaxy. He'll come to help if I ask him to. Besides, he owes me big time."

"How so?"

"I helped him to rid of the remnants of Shinra, this evil corporation that used the life energy of the planet for their own personal agenda. It affected billions of people."

"I see."

"Yeah. And… Send. Awesome." Tsukune shut off the computer and stood up. He walked over to the bed and sat down. He took off his armor and tossed it toward the dresser drawer. He then removed his Alliance attire and put it on the floor beside the bed. He was now only in a tank top and shorts. Moka blushed as she eyed Tsukune's muscular body up and down. She had seen him before when he was skinny but well-toned. Now, he was much bigger and it was turning her on.

"Tsukune…"

"Hmm?"

"It's really good to see you again."

"Same with you, Moka."

"I just hope that my other sisters and our friends are safe…"

"Yeah… you think that they could be here on the Citadel?"

"Maybe… but, we can go see later. I want to talk to you."

"Okay… about what?"

"… Why did you leave us?"

"…."

"Tsukune…"

"Because… because I was an idiot, Moka. I wanted to make sure that John was alright. He left to join the Alliance when he was 18 and I was 10. After we graduated from Yokai Academy, I wanted to leave to join the Alliance. It was wrong of me to throw you guys aside and just leave without notice to go find John. It's just good that your other self seems to have forgiven me. Forgive me, Moka. I'm very sorry."

"… It's okay, Tsukune. I forgive you. I just never got the chance to tell you that…"

"That what?" Moka was blushing harder than ever. It was hard for her to say what she was about to say. Tsukune looked into her bright emerald eyes. He began to get lost in them. _My god, she is so beautiful… _Tsukune thought.

"That I… I l… l-lo…. Love… I love you, Tsukune! I've always had, ever since the day I met you nine years ago!" Moka started to smile and shed some tears. Tsukune was shocked, to say the least. He had always loved Moka as well; both Mokas in fact. He had hoped to win the hearts of both of them, but he had realized that he probably blew that chance after he had left to join the Alliance to reunite with Shepard.

"Moka… I… I feel… I feel t-the same w-way," Tsukune stuttered. "You are so beautiful Moka… your bubblegum-pink hair… your precious emerald eyes… your bright smile… your soft, calming voice… and your other self's platinum hair… her ruby eyes… Both of you are the images of perfection. I am so lucky to have met both of you." Both Mokas blushed intensely at Tsukune's confession. The Inner Moka had missed Tsukune very much and wanted to be with him. The same went for the Outer Moka.

"Tsukune… Thank you… you are so attractive… with your great body… your haircut… and your chocolate eyes. But what really gets me is your smile, your voice and your big heart." Tsukune smiled and stood up off of the bed.

"Come here…" Tsukune whispered. He pulled Moka to him and wrapped his arms around her waist. Moka wrapped her arms around his upper body, and they made contact with each other's lips. Their first kiss; one that both had longed for. This was a dream come true for the both of them. Tsukune enjoyed the taste of Moka's soft lips. They were the taste of strawberries, and she smelled like them, too. Moka bit Tsukune's lower lip to draw some blood, and Tsukune open his mouth, allowing Moka access into his mouth. The couple battled each other for dominance with their tongues. Tsukune caressed Moka's back with his hands. He decided that it was getting too hot in the room for the light clothing he was wearing. He removed his tank top and his shorts, leaving him only in his underwear. He then assisted Moka with taking off her shirt and jeans, leaving her in her white bra and panties. His mouth had literally dropped to the floor when he observed her goddess-like figure. Her skin was pale, but delicate; she had shapely legs and great curves. Her breasts were a nice size and her ass was great as well. He managed to take his sight away from her as he walked to the door and locked it so that nobody would interrupt them. He turned around and was immediately met by Moka pushing herself against him, allowing him to feel her soft skin. They continued to share their passionate kiss. Tsukune removed her bra slowly as he kissed her neck with delicacy. Moka let out a few soft moans as she was being turned on by her bra being removed by Tsukune's strong hands. She enjoyed the contact of his lips to her skin which caused her breathing to become increasingly heavy. Tsukune tossed her bra aside, allowing the two bundles of joy to be released from their cotton prison. Tsukune took in the sight of her breasts and smiled. He had the expression like a kid at a candy store. Moka blushed and continued to kiss Tsukune. She could feel him getting harder and harder each second, as she felt his member rubbing against her legs. She moaned a few more times until Tsukune broke the kiss and pushed her onto the bed.

"Oh, Tsukune…" Moka whispered seductively. Tsukune crawled onto the bed and crawled towards Moka until he was on top of her. He slid his hands down to her panties and slowly removed them. Moka started to rub herself, allowing her to let out a few moans. Tsukune was sent into overdrive as he put his head between her legs and took in the smell of her core. It was amazing. He dived in and took in the taste of her pink folds. She arched her back and screamed his name. "Oh, Tsukune!" This drove Tsukune to continue his actions, which he didn't mind and neither did Moka. He decided to slip a finger in and started to go in and out. Moka was all over the place as she couldn't stop the increasing pleasure that took over her body. Her body was tingling as she was sent into a state of euphoria. She then let out a loud moan which soon after was follow by her climax. Her juices poured out onto the bed which covered Tsukune's hand and got a little bit onto his face.

"Sorry… it just felt so good!" Moka squeaked. Tsukune just laughed and started to position himself. She wrapped her legs around his waist so that he could not get away.

"Moka… I have saved myself for you… for this moment. For that I love you with all of my heart."

"I have done the same for you, my love. For how could I cheat on the man I love? He is the epitome of perfection. I love you, Tsukune Aono."

"I love you, too… Moka Akashiya." Moka smiled and then nodded for Tsukune to begin. The couple continued to make love for the rest of the night. This was a night that they would both remember and cherish, and one that would change their relationship forever.

**And that does it! Hope you guys enjoyed it! It wasn't as long as chapter 5, but whatever, it's still pretty damn long! In case you didn't catch what I have decided to put in as my final group, it's Final Fantasy VII! I was just playing it, and I remembered how much I love it! Now, I am sure I can get the next chapter up here shortly, but don't count on it. Thanks for reading this guys! I would've gone on with this lemon at the end here, but I just felt a little weird typing it. Perhaps I should have a few drinks ;) Maybe… haha, anyways, please review! Thanks guys!**

**Quiet Thunder**


	8. Chapter 7

**An End, Once and For All**

**Hey guys, so I have added the last group to the story. While some of you may find it stupid and some find it interesting, just bear with me. This story is a little hard for me to type up. We are finally getting some time to chill at the Citadel, so I will put some scenes in this chapter that will allow you to get to know each character better. Onwards? Sure!**

VII

Planet Gaia

Midgar

Seventh Heaven Bar, Sector 7 Slums

The day was finally over. Business was good as usual for the Seventh Heaven Bar in the Sector 7 Slums. It had been a normal day. The streets were nice and quiet, filled with some people just going about their day. The wind was an excellent feeling to experience during the day and the sun was shining brightly. After the return and defeat of Sephiroth thanks to Kadaj, the situation in Midgar was better. The Geostigma Syndrome was cured, and Shinra was eliminated. AVALANCHE was now in charge of the city. Yuffie's father was in charge of keeping the city under control. The size of the plate that had once supported the Shinra headquarters had been reduced. This caused sunlight to be able to reach down into the lower areas of Midgar, which the citizens were very appreciative of. The Mako reactors were selectively powered on, so as to conserve energy and prevent them from sucking the life out of the planet. Midgar was back to normal. And so were a certain group of people's lives.

A woman with porcelain-like skin with long brown hair that went down near the lower area of her back and light ruby eyes was cleaning the bar, making sure all the bottles and glasses were clean, sweeping the floor, wiping the tables, and washing the dishes so that the bar would be ready for business the next day. This woman is Tifa Lockhart, a strong, independent young adult who is a brave martial artist with a warming smile and a gentle, smooth voice that could make anyone feel comfortable around her, whether you were acquainted with her or not. Meanwhile, Barrett, Vincent, Yuffie, Cid, Marlene and Denzel were down in the secret hideout below the bar. Barrett was taking his anger out on the punching bag, while Yuffie was spending time with the kids. Vincent stayed anonymous in the corner of the room and Cid was making schematics for a new ship.

Tifa had just finished washing the last dish. She dried the glass using a towel, then putting it on the shelf for later use. She then wiped her hands with it and put the towel away in a drawer. The front door of the bar opening caught her attention and made her turn around behind the counter to look to see who was there. She instantly recognized the man. How would she not? He had spiky blonde hair, blue eyes that were tainted with Mako that glowed even when exposed to light, and a well-toned body. That man was Cloud Strife. The man she had been in love with since their childhood and still is in love with him. She never had the guts to confess her feelings to him because of Aeris getting in the way, but she felt guilty for having the competitive attitude after her death brought by Sephiroth. With Marlene and Denzel living with her and Cloud, she always felt that they could be a family. Perhaps she would confess to him soon. Hopefully he would feel the same way about her… _God, Cloud looks so cute, _Tifa thought to herself as her cheeks had a light tint of red.

There she was. Working behind the counter as usual. The beautiful woman known as Tifa Lockhart. To Cloud, she was perfect in every way. He had always felt guilty about bringing trouble down upon her and the kids including his wonderful friends, because he always had the fear of losing them to something or someone like Sephiroth. But, after the Geostigma was cured and he saw Aeris and Zack at the church… he realized that everything would be alright. He felt fear being withdrawn from his mind. He looked at Tifa and smiled.

"Hey Cloud," Tifa began while winking at the blonde.

"Hey Tifa," Cloud responded, his smile growing slightly bigger. He was always delighted to hear her voice. "How are you?"

"I'm great! Thanks for asking! Business was good today!"

"You're welcome. I'm glad."

"How did your deliveries go?"

"Eh, it took longer than I expected, but whatever. I'm back, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are." Tifa winked at Cloud again which made him chuckle a little bit.

"The place looks nice." Cloud glanced around the bar and took in the sight of home. "Still need help with cleaning up?"

"I'm done already, but thanks." Tifa smiled at Cloud and he looked at her. They locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity. They stood in their spots, getting lost in each other's eyes, admiring one another. Their gazing was interrupted by the pinball machine coming up along with Barrett and Cid.

"So, you wouldn't fucking believe what he did next! Hahaha!" Cid said and laughed hard.

"HAHAHA! What did he dooo…." Barrett drifted off once the pinball machine elevator stopped and her turned to face Cloud.

"Hey Cloud!" Cid exclaimed.

"Hey guys," Cloud responded with a bright smile.

"We've been trying to contact your spiky ass for about an hour now," Barrett said while giving a glare at the hero.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My phone died."

"Well, shit. Anyways, you got a message. From the Milky Way." Barrett's statement caught the attention of the martial artist and the hero.

"What? From who?"

"Tsukune Aono."

"Really? We haven't seen that guy in a while! Is it important?"

"Yeah, it has at least five 'urgent message' labels marked on it. Don't know what's going on, but I haven't read it. From the looks of it, it might be something bad. We figured we'd want you guys down here." Cloud looked at Tifa and she nodded. Cloud and Tifa walked to the elevator along with Barrett and Cid and rode down to the hideout. When the elevator stopped, Yuffie turned around to see who it was. She saw Cloud among the quartet and shouted out his name.

"Hey Cloud!" Yuffie ran to give him a hug.

"Hey Yuffie," Cloud grunted as she gave him a tight hug which made Tifa a little jealous.

"Hey, let him have some breathing room," Tifa said as she stepped in and slightly pushed Yuffie away.

"Cloud! You're back!" Denzel and Marlene screamed in unison and skipped over to Cloud to hug his legs. Cloud laughed and rubbed their heads.

"Hey kids," Cloud spoke while laughing. "Hey, Vincent."

"What? Oh, hey. Sorry, I was thinking," Vincent responded when he was distracted from his thoughts.

"Listen, I'm really happy to see all of you guys, it's been a long day, but Barrett just told me I got a very urgent message so I need to see it." Cloud walked over to the large screen that hung in the corner of the room opposite of Vincent. He touched the screen which brought it to life. He accessed his personal account through AVALANCHE and accessed his email. "Nice to know we got the extranet back up and running." Cloud touched on the first message that was simply labeled, "HELP". The message loaded and came onto the screen. Everyone stood in silence behind Cloud as he read the text.

"_Dear Cloud,_

_ How are you, good friend? I wish I could speak well of my being, but things aren't good over here in the Milky Way. I hate to have to ask you to help us in this hour of desperation after being put through the Geostigma Syndrome, but we need all the help we can get. Remember that before I left to head back to Earth I told you about the Old Machines, the Reapers? How people just thought that they were a myth? Well, it turns out, they're not a myth. They're real. And they're everywhere here in the galaxy, destroying everything that they come across. It's terrible. Absolutely horrifying. To think that we have advanced technology and yet they are wiping us out with ease. Earth was among the first of planets to be hit, and it was hit hard. I am currently safe as I type this message. I am on the Citadel, aboard a ship called the Normandy, so you have no need to worry about me. The situation grows worse as we speak. And I fear that the Milky Way isn't the only galaxy that the Reapers will attack… Please come, Cloud. We need your help. Bring anyone who can help aid you. I hope to see you soon, spiky ass._

_ Lieutenant Tsukune Aono_

_ Earth Systems Space Alliance"_

Cloud and everyone else stood there with awestruck expressions forming on their faces after he finished reading. The Reapers are real. Earth was hit hard. Earth… the very planet that humans originate from. Cloud took a few seconds to digest what he had just read. He then turned around to face his fellow friends.

"Guys… Tsukune is a very good friend to us. He helped us to eliminate Shinra from Midgar. We owe him big-time. Plus, Earth must be saved. Including the galaxy. Though, none of you have ever ventured beyond the Gaius Relay, we must travel to the Milky Way. I know this is a lot to ask of you guys, considering what we just went through recently, but we must help. I hate to ask for volunteers…"

"Cloud, did you ever listen to me that one time that I told you that no matter what, we would always be there to poke your spiky ass?" Cid joked. Cloud laughed.

"Hehe… Yeah."

"Well then don't feel bad. We're all going. Right guys?"

"Yeah!" everyone shouted in unison.

"Wait, there's a video with the message too," Barrett spoke. Cloud turned around and saw the link to open the video. As soon as he touched it, the video came up on screen. Everyone watched as terrifying images had begun to burn into their minds. Footage of Reapers landing in cities on Earth, Illium, etc. The destruction that was brought about to the fleet of ships defending the planets. Soldier running in the streets, dodging Reaper gunfire. All of this shocked everyone greatly, and fear had returned to all of them.

"No…" Tifa sobbed out. Yuffie held her tightly as they began to shed some tears.

"Alright. We need to leave. Now," Cid commanded. "We can take the newest ship that I built. I call it… The Strife."

"Well, I'm flattered, but that's a terrible name," Cloud retorted.

"Fuck you son of a bitch, that's a great name! You're welcome for naming it after you!"

"I don't want it named after me."

"Guys, we'll fucking argue about this later, we need to go now!" Barrett shouted.

"Right. Okay, everyone! Head to the church, I'll call the ship from there!" Cid ordered. Everyone nodded and got on to the elevator to go back up to the bar. Once they were up, Tifa made sure everything was secure. Once the last person was out the front door, she locked the front door to the bar.

"I'll miss you, baby…" Tifa whispered to herself. She took one last glance inside the bar and then ran to catch up with the others.

The group reached the church and waited for The Strife to arrive.

"Okay, should be here any second now," Cid stated. Sure enough, the ship flew over to them and stopped. It hovered and lowered to the ground as the ramp on the bottom of the ship opened up. Everyone walked up the ramp, and headed to the bridge. The ship was a Y-shaped design, with metallic armor with shields that could withstand heavy fire and high temperatures. The speed of the ship was also very fast, one of the best of Midgar.

"Nice ship Cid," Cloud complimented.

"Thanks," Cid responded. "Time to head for the Gaius Relay." The ramp closed and the ship raised itself into orbit above the planet. The Strife flew at top speeds towards the Gaius Relay. Soon enough, they were about to go through.

"Brace yourselves, everyone," Cloud spoke. The ship traveled to the next relay in the vast void between the two galaxies. Soon, the Strife arrived at the Serpent Nebula and headed towards the Citadel.

"So, you've been here before?" Vincent asked. Cloud was a little surprised when Vincent spoke up. He hadn't said much ever since Cloud arrived.

"Yeah. Twice. It's nice, you guys will like it," Cloud responded. The ship flew towards the structure as it prepared to dock on the Presidium Ring.

The Serpent Nebula

The Normandy

Tsukune awoke in his cabin to see that the sleeping vampire beauty next to him was asleep. It was Inner Moka who was out. While he and she had their time together last night, he had taken the rosary off so that Inner Moka could have a turn in enjoying the pleasure. He smiled at the sight of her naked body being covered by the bed sheets. He thought she looked so cute when she was sound asleep. Her platinum hair spread out on the pillow and her soothing presence comforting him. He kissed her on the forehead and slowly got up, not wanting to wake up the goddess. He looked at the alarm clock and saw that the time was 8:30 a.m. He yawned and stretched out his arms before leaving the room and heading down to Deck 3 to use the shower. Before he approached the elevator, he noticed that he forgot to grab a towel, a tooth brush and toothpaste from the dresser drawer. He went back to his room and grabbed what he need. Then he was more aware of why he felt cold this whole time. He was naked. _Damn, I almost went out into the CIC exposed, _Tsukune thought, mentally slapping himself. The noise caused by him rummaging through the drawer to put on some clothes had woken up Moka. She stretched out her arms and slowly sat up on the bed.

"Good morning Tsukune," Moka spoke in her deep and soothing voice. This startled Tsukune and he turned around to face her.

"Oh! Uh, hey. Good morning Moka," Tsukune said.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes… yes I did." Tsukune winked at Moka, and she mimicked his action. "Did you?"

"Oh, you bet. You were amazing last night, Tsu-ku-ne." Moka got up out of bed and walked slowly and seductively, swaying her bare hips as her breasts moved slightly. She embraced Tsukune which pleased him very much. It felt good to him to feel her bosoms against his defined chest. She then started to kiss his neck, then bit into it with her long canines to draw some blood. Tsukune took this short opportunity to enjoy the feeling. Moka finished her breakfast and felt relieved. She pulled her head back and smiled. "I love you, silly boy."

"I love you too, my goddess." Moka blushed a little bit at that comment. Tsukune smiled and kissed Moka. They shared a small kiss before he broke it and picked up what he need for the shower and bathroom. "I'll be back. I'm going to take a shower and brush my teeth. I'll make us some breakfast as well."

"Okay. Thank you, Tsukune."

"Anything for you." Tsukune left the room and headed down the hallway. He entered the CIC and called the elevator. He headed down to Deck 3 and noticed the big display in front of him as he walked off the elevator. It was a display full of names. He searched the list and found one that ringed a bell: _Kaidan Alenko. _"Huh… That name sounds familiar…" Tsukune put aside that thought and went to the men's bathroom. He stripped down until he was naked and turned on the shower. He was happy that no one else was in the showers. Some privacy was great. He added an herbal filter to the shower so as not to cause any pain and turned the water on. The instant heat of the hot water relieved him of his stress as he washed himself down.

Meanwhile, Moka was in the room and was getting some clothes on. She sat in her room for a little bit thinking to herself about Aqua and Kokoa, wondering about how they were doing or if they were dead. She also thought of her high school friends that she had not seen for a little while. She didn't want to think about that, so she decided to leave the room to go and take a shower down on Deck 3.

Kahlua woke up and went to put some clothes on her beautiful tanned body. She planned on going to explore the Citadel when she walked out into the hallway and saw Moka.

"Good morning, sis!" Kahlua exclaimed.

"Oh, good morning Kahlua," Moka spoke back.

"Where are you going?"

"To take a shower."

"Ooo, can I join?"

"Umm… sure… just don't do anything funny."

"I won't!"

"Okay, well the showers are on Deck 3." The sisters exited out into the CIC and headed down to Deck 3. They stepped out of the elevator and ran into Tsukune.

"Oh, hey guys. Good morning Kahlua," Tsukune said.

"Good morning, Tsukune!"

"Sleep well?"

"Yep!"

"Good. Hey, once you guys are done taking showers and dressed, come down here into the mess hall and I'll cook you guys some breakfast."

"Okay, thanks Tsukune!" Tsukune smiled and went upstairs back up to his room. He threw on his Alliance attire and went back down to the mess hall to cook some breakfast. He made omelets and bacon. He blended some bananas, strawberry, yogurt and some ice together to make strawberry banana smoothies. By the time he was done, the sisters were sitting at the table in the middle of the large area. Tsukune took two plates to the table and gave one to each sister. He then gave them each a smoothie. He then grabbed himself a serving and sat down.

"Thanks, Tsukune. This was sweet of you to do," Moka said as she smiled.

"Yeah, thanks Tsukune! I bet it'll taste really good!"

"You're welcome, guys. By the way, would you like a blood packet, Kahlua?" Tsukune asked.

"Oh, I'm good! I have a few here," Kahlua assure Tsukune. Tsukune nodded and dove into his meal. The trio quietly enjoyed the food that Tsukune prepared in the comfortable silence the crew deck offered. A few minutes had passes until Kahlua started up a conversation. "So, Tsukune… what were you doing back on Earth? You know, before the Reapers hit."

"Well, I was guarding the Normandy. Making sure that no one would steal it. Pretty boring job, especially for being a Lieutenant, but whatever. I'm kind of glad I got that position because we were able to get off, or at least Shepard and the others, were able to get off of Earth easily. It is a fast ship, someone could try to steal it. What about you guys? What have you been up to?"

"Well, I've been teaching martial arts in the human world. It kept me occupied," Moka spoke.

"That's good!"

"Yeah, well the Reapers attacked, so that knowledge is useless now."

"Hey, don't think like that. We have to think positive and stay strong."

"… You're right. I'm sorry, Tsukune."

"It's okay, Moka. What about you, Kahlua?"

"Me? Oh, I've just hung around daddy's castle, assisting him with anything that he needs help with. Nothing too special."

"Well that's nice. Spending time with you father."

"Yeah." Soon, the conversation ended. There wasn't much to say right now. The trio had just about finished their breakfast when EDI came on.

"Tsukune, I just confirmed that you're friends are on the Citadel," EDI informed the young man. "I used the Normandy's biometric sensors to locate them."

"Really?! Where?!" Tsukune demanded. The sisters had hope in their eyes.

"In the Presidium Commons."

"Oh my, thanks EDI!"

"My pleasure."

"Say, let's go find them?" The sisters nodded. Moka put back on her rosary and changed to her outer form. They sat up and walked to the sink and washed their dirty plates and cups before heading upstairs to the airlock and going to find their high school friends in the Commons.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The Presidium was quite beautiful. The air was clean, the light was bright and the area was colorful. There were a lot of people staring up into the "sky" and watched as the cars flew by. There was a river with a few fountains that was below the Commons. There were many cafes and shops here in the Commons, including apartments. The plants and grass that were in certain areas were from Earth.

There was a certain group of people that stood out among the small crowd of people in the Commons. They were the friends of Tsukune, Moka and Kahlua. Gin was standing, leaning against a railing along with Kurumu, while the others had split up to check out the sights. Gin took in his surroundings and sighed happily as he gently grabbed Kurumu's arm and pulled her gently towards him. She obliged, and rested her head on Gin's arm. Kurumu loved being around the werewolf; his presence always comforted her. She felt relaxed and at ease from all of the constant rushing she had experienced not too long ago.

_Man this place makes you forget about the war…_ Gin thought to himself. His focus was soon drawn to a random figure. He watched as the figure walked by him, not paying any attention to him since the figure did not notice him.

"Well hello," Gin started to speak which caught Kurumu's attention. She noticed Gin eyeing something and she followed his line of sight. "Would you look at that as-" Kurumu's mouth opened and she gasped.

"Gin!" Kurumu scolded the werewolf as she slapped him upside the head.

"Ow!" Gin whined as he held up his right hand to the back of his head.

"You pervert!"

"Sorry…" Gin smiled to himself, making sure that the succubus couldn't see it. At times, he would play jokes on her like this. Like this example being him checking out a random girl who was quite attractive.

"Don't do that again!" Gin just sighed as his thoughts quickly drifted to his human pal, or half-human, Tsukune.

"Man… I hope Tsukune is okay…"

"Me too. Hopefully he made it off of Earth. And if he is back on Earth, may God bless his soul."

"Yeah, no kidding." The monster couple just stood in their spots, allowing the comfortable silence between them to take charge. The quiet hum of the cars passing by, the chatting of the citizens of the Citadel, and the splashing of the water fountains in the river below were all noises that were relaxing to their ears. A few minutes had passed, until they heard their names being called.

"Hey Gin! Kurumu!" Ruby called out to them. They turned to face the witch who was standing a few feet away from them. "You guys want to come with us? We're going to go find an apartment." The couple exchanged glances for a few seconds before nodding in agreement to join their friends. They started leaving from their spot. Ruby caught up with Mizore, Yukari, Kokoa and Aqua.

"Are they coming?" Mizore asked while pulling out her lollipop.

"Yep," came Ruby's short response. The four waited for the couple to catch up. Once they did, they turned around to start walking together as a sextet. What they saw before them a few feet away was enough to make everyone of their mouths drop, and perhaps even drool. A man and two women stood before the group of six. The man had short hair, most likely his haircut from the military, and he had on Alliance attire. Even though his clothing was a little thick, you could notice that he had a well-built body underneath the suit. His eyes were chocolate brown, and he had a few scars on his face that were small and not that noticeable. He was Asian. He was a little difficult to recognize at first due to him being someone the group swore they knew because of his look. But, they were able to figure out who this man was; who he had to be. They took one quick look at the two women. One had crimson eyes, with a tan body and blonde hair. The other had emerald eyes, a pale body and pink hair. Both had goddess like figures. The group put two and two together and formed a conclusion. It was… Tsukune, Kahlua and Moka.

"Ts… Tsuk…ne?" The group had tried to speak in unison. Everyone's minds seem to not function for a few seconds as they tried to process the image that was being presented to them. They knew that this could not be a dream. It was actually them.

"Tsukune! Moka! Kahlua!" Kokoa screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice caught the attention of everyone around the group of nine. Kokoa ran at the trio, and everyone else joined in.

"Oh my God, you guys!" Ruby exclaimed, throwing herself at the trio. "We were all so worried about you!"

"Yeah, no kidding! Come here, buddy!" Gin yelled as he grabbed Tsukune and gave him a big hug. "Like the new look, bro!" Tsukune chuckled as he reunited with all of his longtime friends from Yokai Academy.

"God, it's so good to see all of you alive and well," Tsukune spoke with a big smile plastered onto his lips.

"Ditto!" Kurumu exclaimed.

"How did you get here?" Yukari questioned.

"The Normandy. It's a ship. A fast one. We used it to get here. We're on an important mission."

"For what?"

"We're here to speak to the Council."

"Huh?"

"It's a long story." Tsukune's earpiece began to beep. He activated the call he was receiving by pushing down on it in his right ear. "Hello?"

"Tsukune it's me," Shepard spoke on the line.

"Shepard. What's up?"

"I just finished visiting Ashley here in the hospital. I'm going to see the council now, so I suggest you come. And, I see that you've united with your friends. From what you told me, they're very capable fighters, and we need all the help we can get. If they're your friends, then they're my friends, too. If they want to help, they can. If they don't want to, it's okay. It's up to them to decide if they want to join the crew or not."

"Okay, I'll ask."

"Alright, see you at Udina's office."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fox McCloud was walking to the Purgatory Bar with his team. Falco went with Krystal to the dance floor. Slippy decided to stay outside on the deck near the elevator, and Fox and Peppy went to the bar.

"I'm too old to dance," Peppy joked. "I ain't got time for that anymore sadly…"

"Hang in there pops," Fox laughed as he slapped the hare's back. "Let's get a drink." Fox and Peppy sat down at the bar as the bartender came up to the two and greeted them.

"Two shots," Fox ordered. He looked around to take in his surroundings. He had been to the Citadel before, but never to Purgatory. The bar was teeming with life. Outside was bright, but in here it was dark. There was a floor below the platform they were on. Lights flashed everywhere. People were getting drunk left and right, and dancing. Fox spotted Falco and Krystal having a good time on the dance floor. There were some dancers on separate stages that went up and down. There were a few tables to order food from, and there was an upper level that contained more patrons. There was a bright sign that read "Purgatory." Fox liked the bar. However, the music was too loud for Peppy.

"This damn music hurts!" Peppy complained.

"Relax, old man. Just drink and you'll be fine."

"That's easy for you to say, jackass." Fox laughed to himself as his gaze went back to the other two pilots on the dance floor. He had his gaze on Krystal the whole time. _Man, she's so beautiful, _he thought to himself. Fox had not noticed that the bartender brought them their drinks. "Hey, our drinks." Fox snapped out of his thoughts.

"Oh, nice." Fox picked up his glass and quickly downed the drink.

"I saw who you were looking at."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come fucking on. Ever since the day you rescued her back on Sauria, she's been attracted to you ever since. But, you must be blind."

"I mean, she is pretty and all…"

"Then go for her! Besides, I told Falco to dance with her to make you jealous, and I know it's working."

"What?"

"Yep." Fox looked back at the couple.

"I'll talk to her when I have the chance. We're here on a mission."

"Right. We'll see." Fox's earpiece began to ring. He accepted the call.

"Yeah?"

"Fox," Councilor Udina addressed.

"Councilor Udina."

"I just heard that you arrived. I'd like you and your friends to come up to my office, now."

"Okay, be there in five." Fox turned to Peppy. "Get the others. We're leaving."

"Where?"

"Udina's office. Let's go."

"Okay, I'll get the others."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

John Sheppard and his team, along with Lorne's team, were standing in the waiting area of Docking Bay E-24. John had went to get some food along with Ronon and Rodney. They returned and John gave a meal box to Teyla and to the others.

"Here you go guys," John spoke. "You're welcome."

"Thank you sir," Lorne responded.

"Yes, thank you John," Teyla said.

"This better be some damn good food because I'm starving," Rodney complained.

"Just shut up and eat fat ass," Ronon spoke bluntly.

"Hey!"

"Relax, all of you!" John commanded. "Jesus, you guys are like kids. Thank God I didn't have any." John opened up the package of food he got from the food machine. He simply ordered a burger with fries. "A little bit of heaven." He bit into his burger and savored every bit of it. "Whoo! I haven't had a burger in a while, man." John took a handful of fries and shoved them into his mouth, enjoying the potato snack. "Crispy and golden. Mmmm…."

"This is surprisingly not bad," Rodney commented.

"Yeah."

"What did you get?"

"A simple burger with fries for a simple guy like me."

"Yeah? Well I got some chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. And some green beans on the side. Oh, and I forgot the biscuit and the corn."

"That's way too complicated of a meal. Suits you though."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're a complicated guy who gets emotional a lot, that's all."

"I am NOT emotional!"

"Yeah you are. Hey, you guys remember that time when Rodney fainted due to his brain evolving?" Everyone started to laugh.

"I didn't faint, I passed out!"

"Oh no McKay… you fainted."

"You son of a-"

"Hey. Relax. It's okay. You fainted, it's alright. You don't have to be such a pussy about it. Jeez."

"Fuck you."

"I bet you would love to do that. It's a little too bad that I don't swing that way."

"What do you mean?" Teyla asked. Ronon understood the reference since John had explained it to him before. Ronon laughed.

"What's the word in Spanish… I had a friend by the name of Marty Coen. In Spanish it's maricon."

"That's a good one sir," Lorne chuckled.

"Yep, I know, thanks Major."

"Welcome."

"Screw you guys, where's the bathroom?" Rodney asked, throwing his food away.

"Damn fat ass! You're done already?!" John exclaimed, pretending to be surprised.

"Fuck you, and yes, now I need to go to the bathroom. Where is it?"

"Hell if I'd know."

"You don't know?"

"I've been here just as long as you have, Rodney." John spotted a VI over near the information desk. "Go ask that VI over there." John pointed to the VI and Rodney looked. "And on top of that, ask her if she'll be your mistress as well."

"What?!"

"Yeah. You don't get out much, man. I've never seen you with a woman before. What do you do in your spare time? Actually… I don't wanna know, forget that I asked that. The point is, you could use someone like that VI. I'm sure she'll be ready to 'assist' you in any way possible." John formed a smirk on his face.

"God, you are a jackass!" Rodney quickly walked off.

"You see that guys? There's a woman trapped in there."

"In where?" Ronon asked.

"In Rodney's body. Just look at the way he walks." John's earpiece began to beep. He answered the call. "Yeah? I'm eating. Call back later."

"Sheppard."

"Shepard?"

"Yeah."

"Well. Nice to hear from ya."

"Yeah. Listen, Councilor Udina wants us all to meet in his office. It's located in the Embassies."

"Alright…"

"Now."

"Fine." John threw his box away. "Damn it, I was enjoying my food. Oh, well. Let's go guys. Oh, wait… I gotta call Rodney." John radioed for Rodney, who was currently sitting on the toilet. "Rodney?"

"Yeah, what?" _Pffffttt! _

"Goddamn it, Rodney, at least have the courtesy to close your asshole when speaking to someone, I don't wanna hear you taking a shit!"

"I'm sorry, I have serious stomach issues sometimes."

"Okay, good to know. Meet us at Councilor Udina's office, I'll send you the location."

"Got it."

"Hurry your ass up."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cloud Strife and his friends entered E-24 to be greeted by numerous refugees who had made camp in the waiting areas. He had missed the Citadel. He enjoyed the Presidium and the relaxation it provided for a man with a lot of stress. He had wished that he came back under better circumstances, however.

"Damn, where are the bars? The women?" Cid asked.

"Beats me," Barrett added.

"Guys, focus," Cloud ordered.

"Right. Sorry," Cid apologized.

"Just in time, Cloud," a voice spoke on Cloud's earpiece.

"Councilor Udina?" Cloud asked.

"Yes. Care to come up to my office? We will meet with the Council soon."

"Yeah… got it."

"Damn, we can't have some fun while we're here?!" Yuffie whined.

"Looks like that's a no," Tifa added.

"That's too bad. I like this place," Vincent spoke with his deep voice.

"Yeah… Let's go guys," Cloud said. The group of eight headed for the elevator and went on up to the Embassies.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cloud and his friends seemed to be the last group to arrive at Udina's office. They entered the office after the Turian guard gave them permission to. The eight people were taken aback by how many people were at this meeting. Some of which they did not even know. The same went for everyone else.

"What the hell kind of group is this?" John asked. "You got the Muppets here," John said as he pointed to Fox and his pilots, "then you got the Asians," John said pointing to Tsukune and his friends, "you got Link on steroids," John said pointing to Cloud and his friends; he was referring to Cloud's oversized sword and blonde hair, "and you got a guy who has practically the same name as me with his blue friend and a ship full of Alliance crew members, and then there's me. Whoever brought this group together is smoking some serious crack." Everyone stood in silence at John's little speech. "Oh, by the way, I'm John. John Sheppard, for those of you who don't know me. Now you know."

"Tsukune, long time no see," Cloud spoke out.

"Yeah, you too, spiky ass." Tsukune replied. "Tifa, Cid, Barrett, Yuffie… and Vincent 'Valentine's Day' Valentine?"

"Yeah, yeah, good to see you," Vincent spoke as he rolled his eyes.

"Hehe, it's a cute name."

"Shut the fuck up."

"We can hear you, you know!" Denzel spoke out.

"What are they doing here? They can't be in here!" Udina yelled. Tifa bent down to match Denzel and Marlene's level.

"Go wait outside, okay guys?" Tifa spoke in her motherly voice, which Cloud could hear. He loved that tone of voice. It always warmed up his cold heart. "Watch over each other. Don't go too far now." The two children nodded and left the office.

"Well now. We can all greet each other later. Let's begin this meeting."


	9. Chapter 8

**An End, Once and For All**

**Well… here's another chapter for you all. The story started out slowly with some action that didn't last for long. Right now, we are at a brief pause in the commotion, but things will be moving again. We are finally here at the Citadel. You know, I wish that place was real. Wouldn't that be fucking awesome? Oh, one more thing. I had put a semi-lemon in the last chapter I believe (I can't remember, it's hard to keep track of what I put in these chapters), and I said that I didn't go on with it because I felt a little weird typing it, then I read some fics with some lemons recently… and those authors probably felt weird typing them as well, but they did it for the readers. It's all about the readers, guys. So, I will be putting a lemon maybe in this chapter? Or later, but it will be soon. On with the story.**

VIII

The Serpent Nebula

The Citadel

Denzel and Marlene left Udina's office and stood outside in the hallway. They had spotted a sofa just a few inches away and made their way to sit down. Marlene was pouting about not being with Tifa and Cloud and the others. Denzel was being logical and trying to explain to Marlene that possibly they could get Cloud and Tifa to fill them in on the meeting later. Marlene contemplated the thought, then nodded. The two kids just sat on the sofa and made small talk. They had gotten a little curious when they heard a TV not far away from them with the news being displayed about Earth echoing through the hallway. The two followed the voice of the news reporter down the stairs at the end of the hallway past Commander Bailey's office and went to the waiting area. There was a TV screen on the wall that had displayed images of Earth. Reapers coming down from the dark skies, destroying anything in their path. Countless casualties reported, more planets falling under Reaper influence; God this war could not get any worse. The scarring images tore the two adolescents' hearts apart. Marlene was crying her eyes out silently. Denzel was shedding a few tears as well, but he noticed that Marlene was pouring waterfalls out of her eyes. He felt the need to embrace her, and so he did. He held her and provided comfort with his presence.

"It's okay Marlene," Denzel whispered into her ear. "We're safe."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in Udina's office, everyone was standing silently, waiting for Udina to speak. Sheppard was starting to get impatient, and voiced his complaints.

"Oh, come on Udina," Sheppard complained, "I ain't got time for this. I need to find a bed to go sleep on. I haven't rested in about 48 hours."

"Jesus Shep!" Rodney exclaimed.

"This is very important Sheppard," Udina grunted, "so if you are truly worried about Earth, then I suggest you shut up and listen!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Jackass."

"Ahem. Anyway, in just a few minutes, we will be heading to the council chambers. Need I remind you to be on your best behavior; all of us are representing humanity. We need to provide the Council this 'solution' that Shepard found back on Mars, and concrete evidence that it actually works."

"Easier said than done," Tsukune spoke out. "The Council is just full of dumbasses that don't heed warnings until the very last minute and then everything gets fucked up."

"I would use better word choice, but I do have to agree with you there, Lieutenant. Actually, nevermind. That word choice was precise."

"Thank you, Councilor." Tsukune formed a small smile on his lips.

"Well, we are waiting for the Council to be ready. We might as well introduce ourselves now. We still have some time." Udina asked his bodyguard to go watch over Marlene and Denzel while everyone was gone. The bodyguard left the room. Udina motioned for Shepard to start. Shepard nodded. Everyone formed a circle.

"I'm Commander John Shepard," Shepard introduced himself as he stepped inside the circle. "Nice to meet you all. Well, the ones I don't know." Shepard stepped back into his spot. Liara stepped inside next.

"I'm Liara T'Soni. Lovely to meet you all."

"I'm Lieutenant Tsukune Aono."

"I'm Moka Akashiya!"

"I'm Kokoa Shuzen."

"I'm Aqua Shuzen."

"I'm Kahlua Shuzen!"

"I'm Mizore Skirayuki."

"I'm Yukari Sendo!"

"I'm Kurumu Kurono!"

"I'm Ginei Morioka."

"I'm Rubi Tojo!"

"I'm Lieutenant Colonel John Shepard."

"I'm Dr. Rodney McKay."

"I'm Ronon Dex."

"I'm Teyla Emmagan."

"I'm Major Evan Lorne."

"I'm Private Scott Desmond."

"I'm Corporal Nate Warner."

"I'm Sergeant Alex Wright."

"I'm Cloud Strife."

"I'm Barrett Wallace."

"I'm Yuffie Kisaragi!"

"I'm Tifa Lockheart!"

"I'm Cid Highwind!"

"I'm Vincent Valentine."

"I'm Fox McCloud."

"I'm Peppy Hare."

"I'm Slippy Toad!"

"I'm Falco Lombardi."

"I'm Krystal."

"Well, that is everyone," Udina concluded. "Now, everyone knows everyone." A Turian guard walked into the room.

"The Council is ready for you all," the guard spoke.

"Thank you. Shall we go everyone?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone arrived at the Council Chambers. The spire that stood in the middle of the Presidium Ring housed the galaxy's political power. The shuttles arrived one by one, until everyone was accounted for. A Turian Spectre approached the group and led them to the court room. Everyone took in their surroundings. There was seating on each side of the room on the upper floors with an open view of the court. There was a large window that allowed light to flood the room that came from the nebula, giving the room a light violet appearance. There was a walkway with a large area below that led to a console that stood before the Council. Shepard, Liara and Udina walked forward while everyone else stayed back.

"Good day, Councilor Udina," the Asari Councilor spoke.

"Good day, Councilmen," Udina addressed back.

"We understand that you have something important for us?"

"Yes," Liara spoke out.

"Well, what is it?" the Turian Councilor asked with an impatient tone.

"A solution. A plan. To stop the Reaper threat," Shepard answered. The Councilors soon began to take interest into what was being presented today.

"Well, that sounds good just hearing that from your mouth, Commander, but do you have something to prove this?"

"Yes. Here it is," Liara said as she activated a hologram that displayed the schematics for the Crucible. The Councilors eyed the weapon and seemed to approve. But, Shepard and Udina were convinced that there was a roadblock coming.

"Interesting. It is of Prothean design?"

"Yes."

"Hmm… so… how do we build it?"

"With every hand that is able to build it. We also need war assets. I need fleets, I need the Citadel fleet, I need your fleets," Shepard explained. "With your fleets, it'll make my job easier of finding people to help build this."

"Well considering the size of this weapon, it may take a lot of time to build, time that we don't have and that includes resources. As for fleets, we need the Citadel fleet to defend the Council Space."

"What about the Terminus Systems?" Udina butted in. "Can't you get fleets to help us from there?"

"We have no control over the Terminus Systems as it is full of slavers, bounty hunters, warlords, etc." the Asari Councilor stated. "We only control Earth Space, Council Space and the Attican Traverse."

"Also, we must take into consideration that this weapon was never finished by the Protheans, possibly because they ran out of time," the Salarian Councilor added. "And they had more time than we have right now. We can't possibly rely on this weapon."

"It was because it was missing a vital part," Liara explained. "It was called the Catalyst."

"Well, if the Protheans didn't find it, we certainly won't."

"But, what about Earth?! We need help! We need your ships to arrive at Earth and help destroy the Reapers!" Udina exclaimed. The Councilors looked at each other and shook their heads. They came to a verdict.

"I'm sorry, but we cannot give what you seek," the Asari Councilor spoke. "Our worlds must come first. We our devoting our own resources right now just trying to fight off the Reapers which is making it impossible for any of our fleets to consider joining you. I'm sorry Commander. This meeting is over." The Councilors walked off. Udina formed a face of anger. Shepard and Liara sighed. Once again, the Council refuses to take action on something that very well may save the lives of everyone in the Milky Way. This was merely déjà vu.

"Shepard, meet me in my office." Udina grunted and walked away quickly. Shepard turned to look at Liara. The human and Asari shared a brief moment of staring into each other's eyes, admiring each other's facial appearances. _I never really took a good look at Liara before, _Shepard thought. _She is very beautiful. _

_ Shepard is quite attractive, _Liara thought. A tint of red became present on her blue face, which Shepard recognized and made him break the eye contact. He walked across the walkway back to the group of heroes.

"Alright everyone," Shepard began. "I welcome all of you to the Normandy. I want all of you to board the ship now, including you Liara. I'm gonna go see Udina at his office right now. I'll go see what he's up to, then I'll be back. Clear?" Everyone nodded. "Oh, and Tifa?"

"Yes?" Tifa spoke.

"I'll make sure to bring Marlene and Denzel back. You can trust me." Shepard gave Tifa a small smile which made her smile back. She blushed a little bit; this was a very nice thing for the Commander to do. Tifa found Shepard very attractive, but that did not mean she liked him in that way. She loved the man that stood next to her. The one with Mako eyes and blonde hair with a muscular body that she would always look at.

"Thank you, Commander."

"You can call me Shepard."

"Okay… Shepard." Tifa's smile grew bigger and so did Shepard's.

"Okay, see you all at the ship." Shepard went to the dock and took a shuttle back to the Citadel Embassies while everyone took a shuttle back to D-24.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shepard arrived at the Embassies and proceeded towards Udina's office. He spotted Marlene and Denzel in the waiting area and made a mental note to go there to get them before he leaves. He entered Udina's office to see Udina standing by the railing on the balcony. He walked over to him. Udina sensed his presence and spoke out.

"They're just a bunch of self-concerned jackasses, Shepard!" Udina yelled.

"It's understandable. They're just scared," Shepard voiced with reason.

"Blah!" Udina went to sit down at his desk. Shepard stood in front of Udina's desk. "Humanity will always be considered second-rate, no matter what we do."

"We'll get there, Udina. Don't worry. We'll get help and be able to take back Earth."

"I hope you're right. That was just a huge cock-block that they gave us back there."

"Yeah, you're right. This'll only make my job harder. But, I'll get it done."

"I know… I know you will, Shepard." The Turian Councilor walked into Udina's office.

"Commander," the TC said. Shepard turned around.

"Yeah?" Shepard spoke with an annoyed tone.

"I'm sorry we weren't able to give you what you need, Shepard."

"Yeah, just like the past."

"We can't worry about the past; we have to worry about now."

"Where has your head been?"

"I'm serious, Shepard."

"So am I."

"Anyway, I came here to tell you something. I can't help you with what you need, but I can tell you how to get it."

"I'm listening."

"Well, on Palaven, there is a Turian hierarchy that elects a new Primarch once in a while. Usually, they come from notorious families."

"Just get to the point."

"Primarch Fedorian, is back on Menae, Palaven's largest moon. Word is out that the Reapers have just arrived and he is there trying to hold them off. If you get there and convinced him to join you, he would be an invaluable asset since he would be able to rally Turian support and help you in your quest to take back Earth and destroy the Reapers once and for all."

"So let me get this straight: go into a fight, guns-blazing, save your Primarch's ass with no help from you guys in hopes that he gives me what I need?"

"Put bluntly? Yes. But, you know you need these assets, Commander, so I'm assuming you're willing to take up the offer."

"Okay. I'll do it."

"Alright. One more thing. The Council has agreed to reinstate your Spectre status. You'll have access to the Spectre office. Well, I must attend to other things. Good day, gentlemen." The TC left the office. Shepard approached Udina.

"You know what to do, Shepard. Get out there," Udina ordered.

"Yes, sir. I'll be back."

"And I'll be here." Shepard nodded and walked out into the hallway. He made his way over to Bailey's office. When the door opened, a news reporter was standing in front of Bailey's desk.

"The public needs answers! We want to know what's going on!" the woman whined.

"I'm sorry, Miss Al-Jalani, but I cannot give the answers that you seek. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do," Bailey shot back.

"Well then, I'll just wait right here until you tell me what I want to know."

"Great… I hope you brought a sleeping bag." Al-Jalani scoffed and walked past Shepard. She turned around.

"Commander Shepard! Commander, the people demand answers!" The door closed and Shepard turned back around and walked towards Bailey's desk.

"Damn press. Can never get them off my ass, I swear."

"You seem to be doing just fine, Bailey," Shepard tried to brighten up Bailey's mood.

"Haha, yeah. Being the gatekeeper here, dealing with that, and all this political bullshit. Damn politicians."

"Politicians are the weeds of the galaxy."

"Haha, if that were a bumper sticker, I would slap it right here on the front of my desk. Anyway, is there anything you need, Shepard?"

"Just stopping by and seeing how you were doing."

"Well, that's nice, I suppose. We haven't spoken to each other in a while."

"How has your promotion been?"

"Well, Udina gave me it. He told me that I should see it as a way up, but to me it's just bullshit here and there. Tell ya what, if I could, I would very much go back down to my old office down in the Zakera Ward. Being out on the streets is better than being stuck behind a desk."

"Sure is."

"You're lucky, Shepard."

"I guess so. It's too bad you can't join me; I could use a guy like you."

"I guess you could. But, the Citadel needs me right here, whether I like it or not. Well, I have things to do, and so do you, probably much more important than my tasks, so I won't keep you from your job. Thanks for stopping by, Shepard."

"No problem, Bailey. See you later."

"You got it." Shepard walked back outside and headed right down the stairs. He had spotted Al-Jalani near the elevator, who was calling out his name. He went over to her to see what the matter was.

"Commander, do you mind if I just ask you a few questions?"

"Sure, that's fine." Al-Jalani rolled the camera.

"Commander what do you plan on doing next?"

"I am going to round up as many fleets as I can and bring them back to Earth."

"How do you justify leaving Earth? Leaving billions of people to die-"

"No. I didn't. I left to get help for Earth. Listen, show the people the truth about Earth. Let them know what's going on. Give hope to people that there is still a chance of winning this war." Shepard had put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you… Commander. I haven't always spoken too kind of the military, but I guess my opinion has been changed. Thank you. I will." Al-Jalani walked away. Shepard sighed to himself and radioed for James.

"James?"

"Yeah, Commander?" James replied.

"Everyone is heading back to the Normandy, I suggest you do the same."

"Will do, Commander. Out." Shepard then walked over to the two young kids and crouched down to have the same eye level. Shepard looked up to the bodyguard who was watching over them and nodded for him to head back to Udina's office.

"Hey, guys." Marlene and Denzel backed away a little bit, unsure of what to do.

"Who are you, again?" Marlene questioned. Shepard chuckled.

"I'm Commander John Shepard. But, just call me Shepard."

"Where are the others?" Denzel asked.

"They're all waiting onboard the Normandy. I told Tifa I'd bring you guys back." The kids smiled and took Shepard's hands as he held them out to the kids. Shepard, Marlene and Denzel, hand-in-hand, walked backed to the Normandy.

The Normandy

Tifa and Cloud were in their room that was two doors away from Tsukune and Moka's. Tifa had lied down on the bed while Cloud was standing by the window and looked out to the nebula. She raised her head up and took this moment of silence to glance at his frame. She eyed him up and down. Even though he had all that clothing on, his arms were still exposed and they were very well defined. You could tell that his entire body was very well-toned. She could tell that he had been working out a lot. He wasn't huge like a body builder or skinny, he was just right; in the middle of the spectrum. His hair was still the same; a style that defied gravity. Just observing the young man's figure over and over again was enough to turn the young woman on the bed on. She had feelings for him, and it seemed that everyone noticed. But, she wasn't the type of person to express her feelings, so she bottled up her love for Cloud. But now, they were here, alone in this room.

"Cloud?" Tifa softly spoke. "Are you alright?" Hearing the young maiden speak, the blonde turned around and stared at Tifa. Her voice was very calming to his ears, almost like a soothing lullaby that he loved so much. It made his heart at ease which allowed him to feel relax and very comfortable around her. She had the perfect figure that probably rivaled that woman Moka. She had long, slender and well-toned legs with a developed bosom and the perfect facial structure that housed her wine colored eyes that he loved gazing at. Her hair would just fall down and caress her shoulders gently. Her hands were soft; he wondered if she felt like that all over. Cloud felt a feeling rise in his stomach. He couldn't contemplate as to what it was, but he had pushed the feeling down and opened his mouth.

"I'm fine Tifa," was all that Cloud said with a blank expression painted onto his face. She took his word; she understood that he didn't smile much and almost always wore that expression on his face with his Mako colored eyes that she adored. If he said he was okay, then he was okay. She would be able to tell right away if something was bothering him. Tifa smiled at the man in front of her. "I'm just… thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"Gaia… Midgar… our friends… you and I… Earth…" Tifa could sense a hint of sadness in his tone of voice. She crawled towards him slowly and sat up on the bed. "What if the Reapers go over to the Pegasus Galaxy and do exactly what they are doing here in the Milky Way as well?" The thought never dawned on Tifa until now. She was horrified as to even think about that possible outcome. She threw the thought aside as it began to bring pain.

"They won't. We will beat them, Cloud. You and I, and our friends."

"What if we lose?"

"We won't. You have saved Gaia many times. You brought Shinra to its knees, you killed Sephiroth and Bahamut Sin, and put an end to the Geostigma. If you can do all of that, you can surely destroy the Reapers. I believe in you. I always have, Cloud." Cloud grew a small smile on his lips. "When you found me unconscious in that Mako reactor, I couldn't wake up, but I knew you were there, holding me. I knew you would come for me if I was in trouble. You had done that many times. You are my hero, Cloud Strife. I always look up to you. You are truly an amazing person, and I am glad to have been your next door neighbor back in Nibelheim."

"I… I don't… know what to say…" Tifa chuckled slightly.

"It's okay. You don't have to say anything." Cloud's smile grew bigger.

"Thanks, Tifa. I appreciate what you said."

"You're welcome." Tifa winked at Cloud, which in turn caused him to turn slightly red on his face. They looked at each other for a few seconds for what seemed like hours. _God, Tifa looks so beautiful, _Cloud thought as he continued to admire the beauty sitting in front of him.

_He is so handsome. Oh Cloud, I feel like throwing myself into your arms right now, _Tifa thought. Cloud then felt his phone vibrate. He reluctantly looked away and looked down at his right pant pocket. He reached in and pulled out his phone. It was 5 inches long, 2 inches wide and ¼ of an inch thick. The entire phone was a rectangular piece of glass, that when held in the palm of the hand, it will power on with a holographic screen being displayed on the glass. When he had pulled it out, he accidently dropped it onto the floor. He reached down to get it, while Tifa did the same to help him out. When he grabbed it and lifted his head up, he was looking right at Tifa. Their faces were mere inches away from each other. Both the male and female's faces were a dark red. Cloud quickly stood up and backed up a little from the bed while Tifa had turned her face away from the blonde so he couldn't see her embarrassment. _That was soooo close! _Tifa thought. Cloud checked his phone to see who had texted him. It was Reno.

_Hey, Spiky ass!_

_ Dude, we just went by your place and nobody was home. We asked Reeve at WRO where you guys were, and he said that you guys went to the Milky Way. REALLY?! You guys seriously went without US?! Rude, Red, Cait Sith and I?! Come on, man! Just let us know how you all are doing. I can't believe you fucking did that, bro. Anyways, talk to ya later._

Cloud just smiled and put away his phone in his pocket. Then something popped up in his mind.

"Oh, Tifa." Tifa raised her head at hearing her name.

"Yes?"

"I almost forgot… but… I went to Sirta Supplies today on the Citadel… and I got you this…" Cloud went over to his bag on his desk and pulled out a bouquet of flowers. He brought them over to the young woman, who had a look of shock plastered on her face.

"Wha…"

"I got these for you. Roses. Your favorite."

"I… I-I… Cloud…"

"They made me think of you. I got them because you are my best friend, Teef. I care a lot about you. You have done so much for me and in return I didn't do anything. I made you feel like shit, and I feel absolutely terrible. I wanted to make it up to you. You never once gave up on me, and for that, I am truly grateful to have met you, Tifa Lockhart. You're a great friend."

_Friend… Is that what he sees me as? _Tifa asked herself. She felt a little sad that he didn't see her beyond that, but she was extremely happy that he was thoughtful to buy her these beautiful roses. She smiled widely from ear to ear as she had some tears forming in her eyes and embraced Cloud in a crushing bear hug.

"Oh, thank you so much, Cloud! You are my best friend as well! You are such a great man!"

"Ow! Okay… easy… hahaha. You're welcome, Tifa. Anything for you." The duo embraced each other for a long time, enjoying each other's warmth. Tifa loved the feeling of Cloud's strong arms holding her against his defined chest. Cloud was enjoying the feeling of her developed bosom which caused that unknown feeling from earlier before to rise once again. They both reluctantly broke apart and engaged in another session of prolonged eye contact. Their faces had suddenly started to move closer to each other's very slowly, until Shepard's voice came onto the speaker.

"Attention, Normandy crew. This is the Commander speaking. As of now, we are leaving the Citadel. We are headed for Palaven, the Turian homeworld. I would like to welcome a few people aboard our ship that are new to our crew. Lieutenant Tsukune Aono and his group of friends, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard and his team, Fox McCloud and his team, and Cloud Strife and his friends. To those I just announced, please keep an eye on your personal tablets as they will notify you if I have chosen you to be a part of my team when we hit the ground. I will only choose two of you. Good luck to all of us. Shepard out."

"Well, looks like we should keep an eye out," Tifa said as she looked away from Cloud with red painted onto her face.

"Yeah," Cloud replied, who was just as red as Tifa. "I'm gonna go grab something to eat. Wanna come with me?"

"I'd love to." Cloud and Tifa left their room and headed down to the Crew Deck.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Yeah, right. And what about that girl you stalked in college? Geldar?" John asked.

"Hey, I did not stalk her!" Rodney yelled.

"You so did, man."

"Really, McKay?" Ronon asked.

"Yeah," John answered.

"Wow." Ronon got up from the table and went over to the kitchen to refill his cup with water. He sat back down. John, Ronon and Rodney were eating at the table in the middle of the room on the Crew Deck, discussing past events. They had soon spotted Cloud and Tifa walking in and grabbing some food from the counter and walked to the table.

"Mind if we sit here?" Tifa asked the group. The trio just looked at Tifa and had their mouths open when they saw just how beautiful she was. Cloud felt a little bit annoyed.

"Uh… yeah, sure… um, that's… fine," John replied.

"Thank you." Tifa had found John attractive. His dark, messy hair, his muscular figure along with his perfect facial structure. She had turned around to smile at Cloud when she noticed that he seemed annoyed. She then saw that the trio had been checking her out. She blushed slightly, but then smiled when she contemplated the thought of sitting next to John to see how Cloud would react. She did so, and sure enough, she could tell that Cloud was jealous, which made her giggle. Cloud sat next to Tifa and started eating his food. He had ham, green beans, rice and bread. Tifa had the same meal. The quintet sat in silence for a little bit until John decided to break the silence.

"So… considering how beautiful you are Tifa, I would keep this with you at all times." John handed her a lemon. "This is for when you catch Rodney stalking ya. He's allergic to citrus." Rodney put his fork down and looked at John.

"For the last time, I did not stalk Geldar, damn it!" Rodney blurted out. Tifa laughed at Rodney, and blushed at John's compliment.

"Well thank you," Tifa spoke. "I'll keep this handy." Tifa turned to Rodney and winked at him. Rodney felt a little embarrassed and looked away. Cloud on the other hand started to grow more jealous. Tifa made note of that and giggled. "So, Colonel… where did you guys come from?"

"We came from the Pegasus Galaxy, just like you two," John replied, pointing at Tifa and Cloud. "Us three, Ronon, Rodney and I are part of an expedition. It was to find the lost city of the Ancients, the ones who came before, who existed at a time a little after the Protheans. We found their city, Atlantis, on a planet that we traveled to by the use of a Stargate. I would go on, but I don't wanna bore ya."

"It's alright. That's very interesting," the young maiden replied, taking another bite of her food. Once she finished chewing and swallowing her food, John began to speak, catching her attention.

"So, what about you two? Where do you guys come from?"

"We come from a planet in the Pegasus Galaxy called Gaia," Cloud responded. Tifa was a little surprised at Cloud's sudden entrance into the conversation for her was quiet the entire time, but she smiled and let him continue. "We live in a city called Midgar. Lots of things have happened there. Tsukune had helped us in the past to make Gaia the beautiful planet that it is today. When Tsukune asked us for help, we couldn't say no. We owed him."

"I see," was what all John said before taking a bite from his apple.

"Yeah." Silence enveloped the quintet for a few minutes. Deciding at this point to take their leave, Ronon, John and Rodney stood up and prepared to go to the bridge.

"See you guys up there." The brunette and the blonde nodded in reply, and continued to eat their meals, while the trio left to head to the elevator. Once their presences were no longer in the mess hall, Cloud had turned to face Tifa.

"Tifa…" he began.

"Yes?" Tifa lifted her head up from her plate and looked in Cloud's direction to meet his beautiful mako blue eyes. Boy, did she love looking into them.

"Are you ready for what's to come?"

"Always. As long as you're with me."

"Of course. I won't leave you hanging."

"I know you won't, my hero." Tifa winked at Cloud, which caused his face to produce a tint of pink. He turned his face toward his plate and took the last bite of his meal.

"I'm going to head to the bridge."

"I'll go with you." Cloud stood up along with Tifa and walked over to the kitchen to put their dirty plates in the sink. They ran to elevator and pushed the button. Once the elevator arrived, they stepped in and headed to Level 2.

Once they arrived, the elevator door opened, only for the two to be greeted by Barrett, who stood with his arms crossed.

"Took you lovebirds long enough. We ain't got time for you two to go smoochin'. Let's get the hell on!" Barrett spoke in a gruff tone. Cloud and Tifa blushed furiously at Barrett's comment, refusing to look at each other to hide their embarrassed expressions etched onto their faces. They walked behind Barrett as they approached the cockpit. Everyone was jammed tight into the small area, which made Joker very uncomfortable, but he managed. Shepard stood right behind Joker. "Shepard, everyone's here." Shepard turned around to face everyone.

"Alright, we're heading through the relay in two minutes, which will be enough time for us to prepare," Shepard raised his voice. "You all know what we're here for; to get the Primarch, assist the Turians in any way possible, and leave. Any questions?" The large band of heroes nodded their heads in sync. "Alright. Get us there Joker."

"Aye aye, Commander," Joker replied. "Approaching the relay in five, four, three, two, one." The Normandy made contact with the relay's energy. A beam shot out to the Normandy, which charged the ship to fly down a corridor of infinite space towards Palaven.

Palaven

When the Normandy arrived, the Turian fleets had already engaged into battle with the Reaper ships. The situation was holding, but it would get worse in a matter of time. Palaven may have the best military the galaxy, but that test was being failed as the Reapers were destroying ship after ship. Luckily, the Reapers didn't bring out the best in them. It seems that the Reapers had other plans.

"Looks like we're a little late to the party," Joker commented.

"Activate the stealth drive, then get us to Menae," Shepard ordered.

"Got it." The Normandy took off onto its course towards Menae, Palaven's largest moon.

"I'd like you to stay in orbit, Joker. Just in case anything happens. Alright, Liara, James?"

"Yes?" Liara responded.

"Yes, Commander?" James spoke.

"You know that you two are coming with me?"

"Yes, we know," Liara answered.

"Alright, meet me in the hangar. We leave in three."

"Yes sir," James said. Everyone in the cockpit made their way to the CIC, while Shepard, James and Liara headed down to the hangar.

James slipped on his armor, and powered up his shields; Liara and Shepard doing the same. James grabbed a Katana shotgun and a Vindicator assault rifle. Shepard grabbed a Paladin pistol and Hurricane SMG. Liara grabbed an Acolyte pistol and a Locust SMG. Grabbing multiple clips to prepare themselves for battle, the three made their way to the shuttle, which Cortez had prepared to take off to the surface of the moon.

"We're ready to go Commander," Cortez spoke up.

"Thanks Cortez," Shepard said. "We're ready. Take us down."

"Yes, sir." The trio took their seats in the back of the shuttle while Cortez sat up front. The hangar doors opened, allowing the small shuttle to leave and head towards the moon's surface. While the group had hoped for this to be an easy mission, Reaper capital ships started to touch down onto Menae. Things were about to heat up. "Sir, Reaper ships are touching down onto Menae."

"Shit. I had hoped for this to be easy…"


End file.
